With all the recent fuss about expenses we were starting to think that MPs had no shame at all, but it looks like we were wrong, according to the Sunday Times.  With the impending requirement to publish details of outside jobs (hours spent on them and amounts earned) MPs of all parties are rushing to ditch directorships, partnerships and consultancies before the deadline for declaration.

In many cases we will never know what it is they were so afraid of us knowing.  Are they ashamed because it would reveal that they spend a lot of time away from their MP jobs, or ashamed because it would reveal just how little they have to do to pick up sums the rest of us work 37 hours a week for every week?  Or is it a bit of both?

Francis Maude has been shedding interests steadily over the last year or so, although the paper suggests he may not be able to get rid of them all in time.  At the peak of his activity I reckon he was getting at least £120,000 a year from other jobs, and the ST reckons that he still gets £59,000, plus whatever Barclays pays him.   The implication is that whatever disclosure would reveal it is worth at least £59,000 to Maude to keep it hidden.

Do you have a secret you would give up £59,000 a year to keep?   Bit of a moot point if you don’t have that sort of income to give up, but something to ponder on.  The only thing for certain is that whatever it is they wanted to hide will remain hidden, because the requirement to publish details of outside earnings has no retrospective element at all.

Last year David Cameron wanted to make his frontbench team give up their extra jobs and he was faced with a revolt.  Many of them said they would resign from their front bench positions than give up their other jobs, and so Cameron backed down, but now they are voluntarily giving those jobs up just because the alternative is let us know all about them!

Notice that at the time of that story, just seven months ago, Maude was listed as having eight other jobs, and is now down to just three.