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JIM SPENCE: Inside Alex Salmond meeting where he offered me Dundee SNP seat

'With MPs' pay set to rise to three times that of the average worker, I’m starting to think I should've accepted Alex Salmond's offer.'

Then SNP leader Alex Salmond launches party’s 2005 election campaign from the deck of the Discovery in Dundee. Image: PA
Then SNP leader Alex Salmond launches party’s 2005 election campaign from the deck of the Discovery in Dundee. Image: PA

Is your Member of Parliament worth £93,904 a year?

With their pay set to rise to three times that of the average worker, I’m starting to think that when the late Alex Salmond offered me the Dundee West seat for Westminster in 2014, I should have taken it.

Instead, I left a secure BBC job not long afterwards for a precarious freelance career.

On that salary plus expenses, I’d have enjoyed a London lifestyle and wouldn’t have been overly taxed with hard work.

I’d also have acquired a very generous pension.

Unlike most ordinary workers, our political representatives both in London and Edinburgh have no set hours, need no set qualifications, need not fill in attendance sheets, and they don’t have to worry as some employees do about performance-related pay.

In Westminster they also have perks like heavily subsidised restaurants and bars.

In the members’ dining room, beer battered cod with hand cut chips mushy peas and tartar sauce will set an MP back £7.33.

A similar dish in my local pub costs £16.50.

Police officers, firefighters, and others who’ve lost their canteens through cost cutting must feel like mugs.

Saturday night Bute House meeting

Despite London’s attractions, Salmond’s approach to me on that Saturday night in 2014 was one I rebuffed.

Along with seven others, four men and four women, I had met the first minister in Bute House at his invitation.

Four of those folk subsequently became either MPs or MSPs.

Jim Spence.

It was crystal clear that the SNP would win the seat whoever stood, and they did in May 2015, with a majority of over 17,000.

I had many reservations about standing.

I wasn’t even a member of the SNP, although I’d once stood as a candidate in a local election.

To me it felt like carpet-bagging from those who had been long standing members of the party.

But such was the eagerness to attract prominent folk (one of the group at that Bute House meeting was a well-known former footballer turned TV pundit, another was a high-profile lawyer) that such minor considerations were considered irrelevant.

‘I wanted assurances’

Given the way the public view politicians I wanted assurances the SNP would be straight shooters and wouldn’t abuse the public purse.

Alex said they were looking to find hostel-type accommodation where all the SNP MPs could live so there would be no accusations of folk buying and selling second properties and making big profits off the back of taxpayers.

He also claimed there would also be strict checks on family members being employed.

To my knowledge none of these things have ever happened under the SNP.

Currently a host of SNP MSPs are preparing to desert Holyrood, cashing in their chips and some no doubt will be taking hefty pensions which may be more than the average annual wage.

The highest profile of them is the former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who will reportedly pocket a pension of around £62,000, along with a hefty golden handshake.

Nice work if you can get it.

Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. Image: PA

There’s an old saying that the noblest prospect a Scot ever sees is the high road to England.

But with the advent of the Scottish Parliament, some average politicians have still managed to make a very comfortable living, which while not as lucrative as Westminster still pays a handsome £72,196.

The attractiveness of a seat at Holyrood can be gauged by the fact that 18 former MPs and three current MPs are among more than 150 potential candidates seeking a berth in the Edinburgh parliament at the next election.

On that money – and with such undemanding terms and conditions – I’m only surprised there aren’t more.

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