I have real trouble with this one. I ought to despise Reid because of his membership of the most mendacious, hypocritical and personally avaricious Government I have seen. However, as SofS, he was probably the best we would ever get from such a Government and he did genuinely care about us. However, as with all Ministers, he proved to be transient and we were lumbered with the next half-wit. Consequently, he joins the very short list of Labour MPs who I afford a grudging respect to, even if I cannot agree with his core philosophy.
At £50K, this sounds like some form of non-exec directorship, based on a number of days per year devoted to the company (and at £50K, that probably equates to about 5 days). He will no doubt go out to Iraq, but I suspect that this will be largely London-based. What do the company get out of it? They get a political bruiser on the staff who, retired MP or not, will still be mixing in his old circles, lobbying for contracts from his old cronies who are in positions to influence Government contracting. He almost certainly knows where many of the skeletons are hidden and will use a mix of threats and bullying to gain advantage for his employer.
That is the way of the world and the reason why so many of our 'socialist' politicians are millionaires (or certainly well on their way). It is disgraceful, but a political career buys you a front row seat at the trough.
