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Here’s the one political bar chart nobody wanted to be top of, or even close to being in a two horse race. It shows a breakdown of the percentages of MPs by each party that employ a member of their family on their parliamentary staff.
So how do the 106 on the list shape up. Now the list is open and transparent it makes for interesting reading. Despite being the largest party as the graph shows Labour (54) are less nepotistic than the Conservatives (39) as the percentage breakdown shows. Of the Lib Dems only 8 of the 63 employ a family member.
Disclaimer: I have to admit that the SNP and DUP figures look skewed as their 2 MPs for both party are compared between 6 and 9 respectively.
Stephen's Liberal Journal 
25 April, 2008 at 2:09 pm
>Good blogging. I think this deserves a mention on LDV.
25 April, 2008 at 3:08 pm
>Interesting.I've never been able to trust the Lib Dems and bar charts after a very, very dodgy one was posted through my door before the last election.To be fair, yours looks fine even if I personally think the disclaimer should be more prominent 😉
25 April, 2008 at 3:33 pm
>Fair enough Jeff. Hope the emboldened disclaimer meets with your approval.Who says I can't please my Nationalist and Unionist friends all at the same time. 🙂
26 April, 2008 at 9:34 am
>To be fair, I don't know anybody who works for an MP who doesn't more than justify their salary. Sure it's a rewarding job, but it involves long hours, hard work and very little opportunity to switch off.I don't have any sort of a problem with MPs employing family members -if they have the appropriate skills, why not? The issue with Derek Conway is that his sons simply didn't to the work we paid the for.
29 April, 2008 at 9:39 am
>Jeff – that reminded me of the last holyrood election where I was sent the classic 'only Labour or the Lib Dems can win here' leaflet; strange given that the SNP pushed Labour into second place in 2003. On closer inspection it transpired that the 'result last time' was in fact for the wrong constituency and indeed in the wrong election (i.e. Westminster).
29 April, 2008 at 9:06 pm
>Yes, for me it was Edinburgh North and Leith where the bar chart had Labour and Lib Dem practically neck and neck and the SNP in a very distant 3rd for the 2003 election.Of course, the REAL result was that SNP and Lib Dem were much closer and there was clear daylight between Lab and Lib.But reality is a fairly trivial notion for the Lib Dems when it comes to electioneering…(Bet you didn't see this post backfiring Stephen!)
1 May, 2008 at 8:24 am
>Oh come on now Jeff. It's hardly backfiring. I posted it on a Friday afternoon with tongue firmly lodged in my cheek.