Former Conservative MPs are having to get by on as little as £575 over six months as they struggle to find work outside of politics.
Hundreds of Tory politicians lost their jobs after Labour swept to power in July, and many have found the job market to be a cruel mistress since leaving office.
Sir Charles Walker is one of the unfortunate ones, although he is certainly not alone.
Speaking to The Telegraph, he said: “I’m beginning to talk to more and more colleagues who are in career distress, who are simply just not getting interviews”.
Walker, who is the former MP for Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, says he has made just £575 in the past six months.
“£500 on election night for a slot on ITV that was cancelled, but they very sweetly paid me, and £75 for appearing on [Radio 4’s] Broadcasting House,” he says.
“I am very lucky, I’m in my later years, I have some financial resources I can fall back on – I took my House of Commons pension early. But it’s not going to last forever,” Walker continues. “It is like an out-of-body experience to go from a 12-year select committee chair, four years on the Board of the House of Commons Commission, overseeing budgets of hundreds of millions and staff of thousands, to not having a lot to do every day.”
Another Tory MP who had a whirlwind career is Stoke on Trent North’s former representative, Jonathan Gullis.
After losing out to David Williams in July, he has been unable to secure employment, which has a knock-on effect on his wife and two children, aged four and two.
“I’ve applied for a few jobs and sadly not even had an interview yet,” he said in a radio interview in September.
“So actually, I think the days when being an ex-MP was something that was wanted or desired are no longer as I think we’re now seen as a problem. And so that’s a challenge.”
Asked if he thought that was due to his politics, he said: “When I left the profession to enter parliament I felt being a Conservative was something that was treated with disdain.”
Speaking to The Telegraph, Gullis says he is taking a glass-half-full approach to his situation, taking the time to be with his kids with homework and read stories at bedtime.
No change there, then…
Related: Jonathan Gullis says he hasn’t watched Post Office drama… because he was stuck watching Paw Patrol