Following criticism of the way MPs are expensing their shopping at John Lewis, some politicians are arguing for higher salaries. On Telegraph.co.uk, I take them to task:

“You’ll be hard-pressed to find a chief executive who’s on less than £100,000,” [Labour MP Martin Salter] says.The comparison shows the vanity and delusion of backbench MPs. The sort of chief executives to which Mr Salter refers generally manage thousands of employees and are generating significant wealth, jobs and prosperity.

An MP, conversely, has only two or three staff, is merely one of 646 unimportant but egotistical managers sitting in the House of Commons, and rarely achieves much if anything to make Britain a better place.

Furthermore, I argue that contempt towards politicians is a positive thing for the economy, helping encourage people away from putting their trust in political solutions to society’s problems.