Emptying out the legal chambers!

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HERE come the Tories, swaggering back for another five years of self-enrichment.

And what a shower they are!

Anyone doubting the class line-up of the parties should look at the biographies of the newly-elected Tory MPs. Look at the number of sources of income many of them command: see how few of them have ever done a useful day's work in their lives.

A glance at the list of Tory MPs makes you wonder how the legal profession carries on -with so many of its number having turned to other forms of robbery and extortion.

The average Tory member is a middle aged solicitor, barrister or chartered accountant. Many now focus on business connections, merchant banking or a directorship or two.

A handful are engineers, managers, academics or media people: others are younger career politicians who have not yet had time to accumulate directorships and lucrative perhaps rather fewer farmers quango posts. And there are Jo. Richardson, among today's blue battalions. MP for Barking More than a third - 146 - of the 397 Tory MPs are currently We clearly did not get our messor former company directors.

Wage across, and it's a very good 28 are members of the Lloyds message. It was and it still • re money-making club for the mains a good message. We scored extremely rich. A sprinkling own a few own goals, which is a matter their own or run family busiwe're going to have to conside nesses. later on, in terms of the way A mere handful have done some of our leaders presented the any productive work after policies. emerging from their lengthy and expensive education in in other constituencies that strings of private schools and visited, we had a more enthusiast top universities - though one ic campaign than we have had fo conspicuously lowly character a very long time. I think that the (Warren Hawksley from The whole election has been manipul Wrekin) claims once to have ated by the press and by the been a bank clerk. media.

If they do not own or help the policy, thought was a control banks, the nearest most good of his party colleagues come to nave naos nouza. working in one is paying in the in the light of the press campaign, tax concessions and boosted kind of loony hatre isn't some profits handed out by the Thatcher government.

To judge from the parasitic missed the boat is in not trying to proliferation of largely nominal ly: I think we've got a tremendous explain those policies more clearbut highly remunerative posts job to do in the next year or so, held by the Tory MPs, the starting now, to show exactly the Thatcher shake-out of over- relevance of those policies. manning in the British economy has a long way to go before it more positive leadership which reaches the top. puts them over, but that's a But then, with so many of matter for who we elect as our them qualified as barristers and leader. I was sorry that the pressolicitors (and presumably entation of the policies in the drafting their own contracts of press conferences nationally and employment) it might take a bit other media coverage tended to more than an economic squeeze be done by people who are to force them out of their cosy regarded as being at least in the nests! centre, in some cases on the right, NO11 every Tuesday at Scomt iurn o JOHN HARRIS,