MPs advertising recently include Simon Hughes, ministers Nick Harvey, Norman Baker and Lynne Featherstone, Greg Mulholland, Martin Horwood, Mike Crockett, Stephen Lloyd, Stephen Williams, Jo Swinson, Lorely Burt and Gordon Birtwhistle, Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chief Secretary of the Treasury.
Don Foster has recruited an intern for six months to do casework, according to the campaigning organisation InternAware, which wants a minimum wage for all Parliamentary interns. Annette Brooke is the only Lib Dem MP offering the minimum wage.
Lib Dems even want the taxpayer to supplement their office costs if they give more than travel expenses and a free lunch, according to Simon Hughes’ office. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, which regulates MPs expenses, is considering the request but lays down strict guidelines on where a job begins and interns’ work should end.
The party is also recruiting unpaid interns to work long hours in an attempt to supplement supporters to fight May’s local and Welsh Assembly elections.
Conservatives and Labour do not appear to do it on such a scale. Tories seeking free labour include Neil Carmichael, Ben Gummer, Mark Menzies, Claire Perry, Anne Marie Morris, Elizabeth Truss, Mel Stride and Mike Weatherley. Five Labour MPs – Simon Danczuk, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Chuka Umunna and Keith Vaz – have advertised for interns.
Labour MPs such as Luciana Berger won’t employ unpaid interns even though she needs staff. She said: “This is an issue of social justice and equal opportunity. The practice is discriminatory to those outside London and those who can’t afford it.”
