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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Business
Simon English

Out-of-work MPs are the last thing the City needs

The Royal family is in a position to do the nation a great favour, one that could boost business, save the economy and help all of us along the way.

It could remind even Royal sceptics what duty looks like, what it truly means to serve.

The Prince and Princess of Wales are seeking to hire a CEO, someone who can “bring a track record of strategic and cultural leadership in complex, fast-paced settings, and the ability to demonstrate core values of discretion, integrity and diplomacy”.

By complete coincidence, Liz Truss is probably looking for a job.

It is not just her. So far, more than 70s sitting MPs have said they will be standing down at the end of the current parliament.

This is because they really want the chance to give something back. And they think they are going to lose.

The FT reports that head-hunters have been offering up some of the departing 70 for jobs in the City of London, the assumption being that banks are just desperate to have former ministers on their board.

Some present ministers do look like perfectly good City fodder. Rishi Sunak should be available before long. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt built a business before and seems to be competent.

As for many of the rest, well, they look like folk who think they match the job description to help out Kate and William, despite all evidence to the contrary.

The soon-to-be available candidates included admitted bullies whose transferable skills set is merely having failed across several different government departments.

Moreover, if the Tories do get whacked at the election, their claims to understand the inner workings of government will be even more hollow than they are now.

In others words, they look like a ragtag bunch of the sorts of people the City of London desperately doesn’t need.

The Telegraph notes: “The House of Windsor has never attempted an appointment like this before.”

Indeed not. Perhaps they could hire all 70 of them.

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