Lib Dem leader Ed Davey leaves Herbert Smith Freehills consultant role
Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, has stepped down from a consultancy role at law firm Herbert Smith Freehills following the Prime Minister’s proposal of a ban on MPs holding paid consultancy roles, according to reports.
A spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats party confirmed yesterday that Davey had resigned from two advisory roles, according to Financial News, which first reported the news.
Alongside his role as a consultant at a City law firm, Davey had also been acting as a member of the advisory board of asset manager Next Energy Capital.
Davey’s consulting roles were flagged as a potential “conflict of interest” by a Liberal Demo MP last week, according to The Independent.
He reportedly earned a combined £78,000 a month for ten hours of advisory work across the two firms, in addition to his MP salary of £81,932.
The news follows increasing public furore about MPs holding additional paid jobs at consultancies which allow them to to act as a “parliamentary strategist, adviser or consultant” in the wake of the Owen Paterson sleaze scandal.
Johnson yesterday proposed new rules that would see MPs banned from holding outside jobs as political consultants, while there will also be a mandate that parliamentarians need to “prioritise” their constituents over any secondary jobs they have.
The Prime Minister wrote to House of Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to say he wanted any outside job by MPs to be “within reasonable limits and should not prevent them from fully carrying out a range of duties.
“Adopting these specific recommendations would ensure that MPs who are neglecting their duties to their constituents and prioritising outside interests would be investigated, and appropriately punished by the existing disciplinary authorities,” he said.
“They would also ban MPs from exploiting their positions by acting as paid political consultants or lobbyists.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called for Johnson to go further and to ban all secondary jobs for MPs, except for “very limited exceptions”.
The proposed rule changes come after Owen Paterson was forced to resign as an MP over the government’s botched attempt to get him off the hook for breaking parliamentary rules on lobbying.
Davey was one of just two non-Conservatives out of around 30 MPs with second jobs as consultants, according to The Independent.