The chamber is unusually busy for a late Thursday afternoon, more often than not many MPs slope off early on Thursday for the weekend. Could it be that they have a lot of self interest in this particular vote?

Various pleadings are being made:

Others earn more. GPs for instance. Well if you want to make more money go do something else. Study at medical school and cure people rather than tax them.

We deal with hundreds of letters. No they don’t, their staff do.

We work 70 hours a week. Oh, please.

We need to attract the best and the brightest. Why? Are the best and the brightest motivated by money?

We are so hard done by. Come off it. Long serving MPs amass massive pensions and property portfolios paid for by taxpayers. Never has a class of parasites complained so loudly about the generosity of the host.

None of them mention that their current package is already worth over £130,000, they all prefer to refer disingenuously to the basic salary of £61,820. The existing basic package including accommodation allowance is worth £98,670, add on the £30 per diem allowance and the pension and you have a clearer picture of the total £130,000 package. The trough is filled with honourable snouts…