REVEALED: THE MPs STILL EMPLOYING THEIR CHILDREN - DESPITE COALITIN'S PLEDGES TO OPEN UP JOBS IN POLITICS

By Daily Mail Reporter 9th April 2011

MPs are still employing their children in Parliament despite the Coalition’s pledges to open up jobs in politics.

Seven MPs have admitted paying their sons or daughters from the public purse.

The register of Members’ Interests shows Labour MP Sir Peter Soulsby employs daughters Lauren and Eleanor as junior secretaries, plus wife Lady Alison as office manager.

Tory MP Nadine Dorries, left, employs daughter Philippa as an executive secretary

Rules introduced last year state MPs can only employ one family member. But if more than one was working before the ruling, they were allowed to keep jobs.

Commons Leader Sir George Young employs daughter Camilla as an office manager and Tory MP Nadine Dorries has daughter Philippa as executive secretary.

Labour MP Sir Peter Soulsby employs daughters Lauren and Eleanor as junior secretaries, plus wife Lady Alison as office manager

Shadow Defence Minister Russell Brown and Labour backbenchers John Robertson, Jim Sheridan and Alan Keen also employ their children.

Last night Mr Brown said his daughter Gillian did an ‘excellent job’. Mr Robertson and Mrs Dorries declined to comment. A total of 129 MPs employ relatives in their offices, including five Cabinet and two Shadow Cabinet members.

These include Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan, who employs husband Jack as a part-time researcher, and Work and Pensions Secretary Chris Grayling, Northern Ireland Secetary Owen Paterson and Chief Whip Patrick McLoughlin, who employ their wives.

Some 59 per cent of the public who responded to a consultation opposed the employment of MPs’ wives, with only 22 per cent in favour.

But Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority chief Sir Ian Kennedy last year dismissed the concerns, contradicting a 2009 report by Sir Christopher Kelly, the Commissioner on Standards in Public Life, which called for a ban.

Sir Ian said MPs could employ one ‘connected party’ – defined as a spouse, child, sibling, aunt, uncle, nephew, niece, civil partner, live-in lover or business partner – at public expense.