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Parliamentary Affairs Advance Access originally published online on March 14, 2007
Parliamentary Affairs 2007 60(2):212-233; doi:10.1093/pa/gsm006
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© The Author [2007]. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Hansard Society for Parliamentary Government; all rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

The Professionalisation of MPs: Refining the ‘Politics-Facilitating’ Explanation

Paul Cairney*

The term ‘politics-facilitating occupation’ is used widely but loosely in the MP recruitment literature. Comparative evidence suggests that this term has a different meaning according to the country, parliament and time period in which it is evoked. Most discussions do not fully explore party differences or distinguish between brokerage and instrumental occupations (used as a means to an elected end). This study analyses differing conceptions of politics-facilitating occupations and assesses their value in tracking change over time in the UK. It then explores innovative ways to identify the importance of the instrumental category. A sole focus on formative occupation oversimplifies the data while the analysis of multiple occupations combined with occupation immediately before election highlights a significance not identified in the literature. While previous studies have highlighted occupations as ‘stepping stones’ to elected office, this is the first to quantify their significance fully.

* Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Aberdeen. With thanks to Michael Rush, Michael Keating, Philip Cowley, Grant Jordan, Lynn Bennie and three anonymous referees for comments made on an earlier draft.


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