George Osborne has been appointed editor of the London Evening Standard (Report, theguardian.com, 17 March) – probably at a very high salary. This is in addition to the £650k a year of work he does for the BlackRock hedge fund. He also has an extensive list of registered MP’s interests, with large sums of money involved. He was the highest-earning MP for 2016. All in addition to his MP’s salary. Apart from the sheer greed of the man, it makes me wonder when he gets the time to do the ordinary work of an MP, as well as representing his constituents properly.
Jake Pepper
Wallasey, Merseyside
• Mr Osborne will work four days a week at the Evening Standard as editor, a stressful full-time job. He also works one day a week with BlackRock, leaving nights and weekends for speechmaking, the US thinktank, his family company, his constituents, and attending parliament as an MP. This is not mentioning a huge conflict of interest. Clearly he cannot remain as an MP, which demands total commitment to the people he represents and the country.
Peter Fieldman
Paris
• Having pitted “shirkers” against workers as chancellor, George Osborne seems intent on breaking the stereotype by combing both roles – shirking his responsibilities as an MP while continuing to receive his £75,000 salary, in addition to the income he receives for his full-time work in the private sector. Is this what he meant by creating “a welfare system that is fair to the working people who pay for it”?
Robert Saunders
Balcombe, West Sussex
• Message from the Standard’s owner, Evgeny Lebedev, to his staff and readers: “Your newspaper is so important that it can be edited by a part-timer.”
Juliette Eyre
London
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