There’s a word for paid-for political access: corruption.
When George Osborne’s Evening Standard published a fawning interview with his former colleague and ally Ruth Davidson today, she declared that she’s got a new job. Davidson stood down as leader of the Conservative Party in Scotland this summer, and clearly feels she has time to spare. Although she will stay on as the Member of the Scottish Parliament for Edinburgh Central until 2021, now she will be also be a senior advisor to Tulchan Communications, a London-based lobbying and public relations firm.
In many countries, this would be seen as utterly shocking. Democracy can’t work if elected politicians sell access to themselves, their platforms and their influence. This is why, in the past, politicians were smuggled wads of cash in brown envelopes: when they wanted to undermine the democracy that gave them power and paid their wages, they had to do so in secret.
