MARGARET ‘LOADS OF MONEY’ HODGE has been the Labour Member of Parliament for Barking since 1994 (1). But during this time, she’s been much more than an MP – she’s also held down a couple of high-flying jobs. For instance, she was the first Minister for Children in 2003 (2) and was Minister of State for Culture and Tourism at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (3). (A full list of her public appointments can be found here: http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/margaret-hodge/25573)
As we all know, Gordon Brown’s Labour Party were booted out of office after the General Election of May 2010. Since then, the vast majority of Labour MPs seem to have kept their heads down. They appear to be still licking their wounds and concentrating on their constituency work. Only the members of the Shadow Cabinet have adopted a reasonably high-profile.
However, one of the exceptions to this rule is – yes, you’ve guessed it! – Margaret Hodge.
In case it’s missed your attention, during the middle of last year she was elected to the chair of the Public Accounts Committee (4). This is a big step for Hodge, because, according to some reports, it is a “plumb role” (5) which is “widely regarded as one of the most influential backbench roles in Parliament.” (6)
According to the official UK Parliament website (7) the Committee of Public Accounts is appointed by the House of Commons to examine “the accounts showing the appropriation of the sums granted to Parliament to meet the public expenditure, and of such other accounts laid before Parliament as the Committee may think fit” (8)
In layman’s terms this means that Hodge is in charge of a committee which scrutinises the spending of government departments and assesses the value for money of major public procurement projects.
At the moment it’s too early to say how she’ll perform in this new role. However, some commentators have indicated that her “time at the PAC is unlikely to be without incident.” (9) Maybe it’s a subject we’ll have to return to a few months down the line!
However, when we heard of Hodge’s appointment we couldn’t help thinking how well she has done for herself. As we all know, she’s not short of a bob or two. First of all, she’s a millionaire. Secondly, she also cops a cool £65,000 – her salary as Barking’s MP. And thirdly – to top it all – she’s landed a top government job which allows her to pocket around £15,000 a year.
It’s just as well she’s a true ‘socialist’ and a member in good standing of the Labour Party. God knows what sort of money grabber she’d be if she was a Tory and a fanatical supporter of the capitalist system!
(1) http://margaret-hodge.co.uk/?page_id=2
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minister_for_Children
(3) http://www.culture.gov.uk/
(5) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10283364
(9) http://www.accountancyage.com/aa/news/1808135/what-prospects-margaret-hodge-pac
