The “revolving doors” between parliament and business have come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks with former ministers such as Patricia Hewitt, former health secretary, taking lucrative outside jobs.

About 30 former Labour ministers – and scores of MPs and peers – have won posts in the private sector in the past two years but only a handful declare their remuneration.

Lord Warner, the former health minister, is now chairman of UK HealthGateway, a health business; Richard Caborn has joined Amec; Ian McCartney is at Fluor Corporation; John Reid, former home secretary, is at Celtic Football Club, and Denis MacShane is at United Utilities.

Almost half of these are still sitting MPs, such as Ms Hewitt, who has taken jobs at BT, Cinven and Alliance Boots.

Paul Flynn, Labour MP and member of the Commons public administration committee, has called for a ban on former ministers taking jobs in industries related to their former roles.

Although the appointments are vetted by parliament’s advisory committee on business appointments, the group has only ever prevented one MP and two civil servants from taking up their new roles.

Many individuals do not say how much money they are earning from their extracurricular activities.

MPs have only to say how much they earn from directorships and other jobs if they are “providing services in their capacity as an MP”, according to the House authorities.

Peers, who have a separate register of interests, have to disclose only how much they earn from “advice in relation to parliamentary matters”.

However, Sir Alistair Graham, former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said parliamentarians should disclose all their interests in detail.

“If you’re playing an active role in politics, speaking in debates or trying to amend legislation, people should be able to see what your interests are and do you have a private – as opposed to public – interest in legislation,” he told the Financial Times.

Among those who do not disclose their earnings is Lord Cunningham, the former Labour “cabinet enforcer”, who is a partner at two political and public policy consultancies. He refused to comment.

Lord Truscott, who has just taken a job as a consultant to Gavin Anderson, the public relations group, said there was no reason why he should declare his pay because he advised the company and not its clients.

Many MPs and peers have enjoyed earlier careers in professions such as law, which they want to resume in later life.

But Adam Ingram, former defence minister, said it was hard to disentangle whether or not a politician had won a job because of his or her political contacts and experience.

Mr Ingram has just taken a £48,000-a-year job at a company called Signpoint Secure.

He said he was surprised by the lack of disclosure by other peers and MPs. “Some MPs do it in a way that they don’t disclose what they’re earning,” said Mr Ingram.

There was nothing wrong with MPs having outside interests, he said. But there was a lack of transparency in both the Commons and Lords.

“My view is that all of that has to change,” he said.

Norman Lamb, MP for North Norfolk, said peers should not have to disclose income from their business interests where these had no relationship with politics.

But it should be a “matter for public interest” where MPs and peers had work that could draw on their political experience.

“I think we are moving into a new era where transparency has become the order of the day,” said Mr Lamb.

“You shouldn’t have a situation where people are simply appointed and can use their position to earn money through contacts they have had in government – the whole system is unattractive and unsustainable,” he added.

Mr Lamb has complained to the authorities about Lord Cunningham’s failure to disclose his clients or remuneration on the register of interests.

Lord Woolf, chairman of the sub-committee on lords’ interests, is carrying out a preliminary investigation, which may lead to an inquiry by the committee.

However, one MP voiced the attitude of many of his contemporaries when he told the FT: “I don’t see why we should have to tell the whole world how much money people are making from jobs which may have nothing to do with their parliamentary roles.”

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/54a9a00c-fad6-11dc-aa46-000077b07658.html

Health Direct asks the question of the last shameless MP vulture- would any of these incompetent, lying MPs have been offered these roles in the private sector if they did not have the experience of being elected an MP and then running government departments? If the answer is no- then tax payers have the right to know how much these MPs are supplementing their tax payers income.