The Career Politician

The modern career politician is generally associated with the growth of political parties and professional politics in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is often regarded as a relatively modern phenomenon. Before the 19th century, most Members of Parliament were landowners, aristocrats, military officers, or wealthy merchants. Parliamentary service was often unpaid, and those who served were expected to possess independent wealth. Yet much earlier in history, as far back as the 5th century BCE, when organised religion began to take shape and some of the great philosophers emerged, we can identify early examples of the career politician in figures such as Pericles and Cicero.

By "career politician", I mean an individual who has never worked outside government or political life; someone who has not experienced the realities of earning a living in a profit-driven environment, where problem-solving is required on a daily basis and the ability to feed and care for oneself and one's family depends upon generating income.

Fast forward to today in the UK and, among those currently seeking the leadership of the Labour Party and, by extension, the role of Prime Minister - even though no vacancy has yet been declared - not one candidate could reasonably be regarded as anything other than a career politician.

Might the career politician, however, be a good thing? It could be argued that specialised experience enables such individuals to understand the complexities of government and public administration. Those in the opposite camp, however, might contend that spending decades in politics can create a disconnect between elected officials and the everyday experiences of ordinary citizens.

Long-serving politicians may also become more focused on re-election and following party ideology in order to retain influence than on solving national problems. Some would argue that politicians can become too closely tied to those who help keep them in office, such as lobbyists and donors.

The real issue, however, particularly from the perspective of democracy, is the extent to which politicians truly represent the interests of those who elect them.  Can they do that better if they have worked within what many would describe as ‘the real world’?