As a nation, Britain is famously dissatisfied with its elected politicians. The House of Commons is widely admired as THE cradle of democratic politics, yet its denizens were already regarded with deep scepticism even before the public outcry this year over their expenses claims. The scandal blew up about a year before Britain is due to go to the polls for a general election that is widely expected to see the biggest shake-up among the ranks of MPs since 1997, when 178 Conservative MPs were swept away by New Labour’s landslide victory. This time, a large number of sitting MPs have already made clear their intention to leave Parliament at the next election and many others will take their chances with the electorate. Whatever the outcome, we can expect to see a great many new faces on the House of Commons benches when the new Parliament convenes.
But what should we be looking for in the people we elect to run the country? The question of what knowledge and expertise the ideal MP should possess is not much debated. So FT Weekend invited 20 experts in various fields to come up with questions that – in their opinion – any would-be MP should be able to answer. This exercise throws up an obvious problem right away: the areas of knowledge that our questioners address are so disparate that no normal person could reasonably be expected to answer all 20 of the questions.
Some might know what the defence budget was as a percentage of gross domestic product in 1997 and 2009, but could they also explain the importance of Speaker Lenthall? Or the price of a large sliced loaf of bread?
That’s the point: we all want people of exceptional talent to come forward for public office. But are we doomed to disappointment because we have set our sights too high? As Norman Lamont, one of our questioners, points out: “It is unreasonable to expect MPs or candidates to be equally knowledgeable on all subjects. Would you expect someone whose main interest is the NHS to know all the stats relating to the Budget?”
Yet an MP is required to vote on all manner of issues, ranging from dangerous dogs to regulation of the internet and invasions of far-off countries. We expect an MP to know his constituency like the back of his hand – but also to have a firm grasp of international affairs. He or she must be blessed with huge knowledge, yet wear it lightly.
And is knowledge the most important quality anyway? Camila Batmanghelidjh, director and founder of the charity Kids Company, believes MPs rely too much on theory at the expense of experience. “They have knowledge of the world from a policy-thinker’s viewpoint, often not from the point of view of people who are living in the circumstances which are casually intellectualised in politics,” she says.
She may well be right. In any case, we hope the exercise will prove a thought-provoking test of FT readers’ knowledge and capacity for lateral thinking.
Jim Pickard is an FT Westminster correspondent
Did our experts pick the right questions? What would you have asked? Go to www.ft.com/MPquiz
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20 Questions
Take our House of Commons entrance exam and decide how well you think your MP would fare
1. Public Finances
Lord Lamont, former Chancellor of the Exchequer
a) What is the government’s projected borrowing for this year?
b) How would you reduce the government’s net borrowing? What should be the balance between cutting spending and increasing taxes and how would you cut spending while safeguarding health and overseas aid?
2. Business
Lord Jones, former head of the CBI
a) What jobs have you had since age 18? Have you ever employed anyone? Have you ever sacked anyone? Have you ever taken a business or reputational risk in the workplace?
b) The PM is trying to force through a piece of legislation contrary to a manifesto pledge. You and your constituents want you to vote against it. Before the vote, you are offered a promotion. What do you do?
3. Current Affairs
Jeremy Paxman, “Newsnight” presenter
a) Is there any reason for not limiting MPs to two terms in parliament?
b) Name two things more pointless than men or women embarking upon a political career full of idealism and then spending their political career doing what their party whips tell them.
4. Defence
Michael Boyce, former chief of the defence staff
a) What was the defence budget as a percentage of gross domestic product in 1997 and 2009?
b) What is the meaning of “continuous at sea deterrence”? Why is it a critical feature of an ultimate strategic capability?
5. Society
Camila Batmanghelidjh, founder of Kids Company
a) Every year in Britain some 550,000 children are referred to child protection services because of suspected abuse and neglect. On average, over the past five years, how many were placed on the child protection register each year and how many were taken off?
b) Britain has a crisis of child violence and criminality, with custody leading to 80 per cent reoffending within two years. If children’s violence were understood to be an intelligent communication, what should society be learning from it in order to deliver more effective solutions?
6. Economics
John Kay, economist and FT columnist
a) What is the gross domestic product of the UK?
b) What were the principal causes of the current economic crisis?
7. History
Andrew Roberts, historian
a) Who was William Lenthall?
b) What did he say and do and what does that mean for the sovereignty of parliament?
8. Health
Niall Dickson, chief executive, The King’s Fund
a) Rank these countries in the order of their total spend on healthcare (as a percentage of GDP) with the highest first: UK, Norway, France, Ireland, Germany.
b) Given current resources, what should a modern local healthcare system look like, and how far away is your local system from achieving that?
9. The Family
Prue Leith, restaurateur, writer and broadcaster
a) What is the price of a large sliced loaf, a pint of milk and 250g of butter?
b) Do you sit down to “knees-under” meals with your family?
10. International Politics
Sir Hilary Synnott, regional co-ordinator of the Coalition Provisional Authority, Southern Iraq, July 2003 to January 2004
a) Which of these countries is a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: India, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan?
b) Liberal intervention in failing states is never either desirable or justifiable. Discuss.
11. Environment and Energy
James Lovelock, author
a) What does carbon dioxide do in the atmosphere?
b) Specifically what would it be like if we removed all of it?
12. Science
Lord Rees, president of the Royal Society
a) You’re on a game-show, with a chance to win a second home. You have to choose one of three doors. Behind one is a second home, behind the other two, duck houses. You choose a door, but before it is opened, the game-show host opens one of the other doors to reveal a duck house. You now have the opportunity to change the door you choose. Should you change or should you stick with the door that you originally picked?
b) What would you do if you needed scientific advice?
13. Transport
Stephen Glaister, professor of transport and infrastructure, Imperial College London
a) What is the annual subsidy to national railways per head of population?
b) What is average household spending per week and how much of it is on cars, and on public transport?
14. Education
David Turner, FT education reporter
a) The triennial Pisa report is the world’s most prestigious survey of children’s educational performance. The 2007 report concentrated on science. Which of the following four countries was ranked highest? France, Italy, UK, US.
b) Would Britain’s children be better off if all the private schools were turned into state schools, all the state schools were turned into private schools, or we left things as they are?
15. Natural History
Professor Richard Dawkins, academic and author
a) Has the map of the world’s continents always been as it is today?
b) Are you descended from a chimpanzee? Are you a cousin of an octopus? Is there any living creature which is not your cousin?
16. Technology
Mike Lynch, chief executive of Autonomy, the UK’s largest software company
a) List the science subjects you studied, your personal daily use of modern technology (internet, iPod, computer) and the like. Have you ever written even a simple program?
b) Successive governments have failed to harness brain power in the UK and turn it into economic success. What would you do to use this brain power here rather than see it go to Silicon Valley to create value there?
17. Sport
Simon Kuper, FT sport columnist and author
a) It was perhaps the worst proven case of match fixing in English football in the past century: three players from which club arranged for their team to lose away against Ipswich on December 1 1962?
b) Is it immoral for mid-range Premier League footballers to earn £1m a year?
18. Literature
Will Self, author and journalist
a) Who are the two protagonists of James Joyce’s Ulysses, the most significant work of fiction in the 20th century?
19. Religion
David Primrose, Vicar of Thornbury and Oldbury-on-Severn and member of the Church of England’s General Synod
a) Which are the six principal religions represented in the UK?
b) Should the Church of England be disestablished?
20. The Countryside
Bill Bryson, author and president of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England
a) If London had not had a green belt and had grown at the same rate as Los Angeles, which towns would represent the furthest extent of its sprawl?
b) How many miles of hedgerow do we have in England and how many have we lost since 1945?
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Answers to questions
1a) £175bn or 12.4 per cent of GDP.
4a) 1997: just under 3 per cent; 2009: 2.2 per cent.
4b) It means that at least one nuclear-armed submarine is on patrol at any time.
5a) About 32,000 are placed on the child protection register each year and 31,500 are de-registered.
6a) £1,500bn, or £25,000 per head.
7a) Speaker of the House of Commons under Charles I.
7b) When Charles attempted to arrest five MPs in 1642, Lenthall said: “I have neither eyes to see, nor mouth to speak but as this House shall direct me, whose servant I am” – sending the King away without the members that he wanted to arrest, and thereby establishing the precedent of privilege of the House of Commons.
8a) Based on 2007 OECD data: France (11%); Germany (10.4%); Norway (8.9%); UK (8.4%); Ireland (7.6%).
9a) Wholemeal bread £1.10; semi-skimmed milk 45p; 250g salted butter 89p (prices taken from Tesco).
10a) Iran (North Korea withdrew in 2003).
11a) It is necessary for photosynthesis in plants.
11b) Removing it would stop much of the world’s natural processes.
12a) Imagine that the second home is behind the first of the three doors. Before the host opens one of the others, you have a 1 in 3 chance of picking the right door. Now consider the options once the host has opened a door and revealed the duck house. Suppose you have picked the first door, which is the right one – switching would be the wrong choice. Suppose you have picked the second, then the host opens the third door – switching would be the right choice. Now suppose you have picked the third, then the host opens the second door – switching would again be the right choice. Therefore, switching would be the right choice two out of three times, and changing from whichever door you originally chose will improve your chances of winning the second home.
13a) about £4bn divided by 61 million = £66 per head per year. Adding London Underground brings it to £87 per head per year.
13b) £456; cars £52; public transport £10.
14a) UK.
15a) No.
17a) Sheffield Wednesday. The players received £200 for it.
18a) Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus.
19a) Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism.
20a) If London’s furthest edge was as far flung as LA’s, which lacks a green belt, and extends up to 60 miles from downtown and is 100 miles at its widest, then the capital would stretch as far as Brighton, Oxford, Northampton or Cambridge. London is a relatively small 25 miles at its widest – thanks largely to green belt planning controls.
20b) 250,000 miles. We have lost 150,000 miles since the war.
