More means better
Sir: Charles Moore displayed an unusually managerial approach to politics in express- ing the view (Another voice, 5 December) that a higher salary might attract better people to ministerial office. In doing so, he succumbed to the easy view that there is somewhere a better breed of politician than those we already have.
There are, of course, some who are already in Parliament who have declined office because of the money, but I question whether there are many outside who, but for a few more thousand, would switch careers and make a better fist of it.
Those who are successful in politics tend to be those who from an early age have har- boured no doubts about wanting to be a politician. Those who switch to it late, in the belief that success in another field is bound to translate into success in politics, usually fall in the course of the vigorous weeding-out process which is parliamentary life.
Charles Moore argued that Cabinet min- isters find life difficult if they have to rely on the ministerial salary alone, and that they have financial commitments which they are obliged to meet. In this at least he puts a convincing case for paying them more.
Alan Duncan
House of Commons, London SW1
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