The image of members of Parliament (MPs) in Britain has been damaged by recent revelations about the way in which MPs — including ministers and some senior members of opposition parties — have taken advantage of the rules about expenses to feather their own nests. Some MPs have also been accused of treating their membership of parliamentary committees as an optional chore rather than an important element in their duties.

British MPs are not highly paid, but nor do they receive only a token salary. Their annual salary of just under £65,000 is in the medium range for British salaries. It compares unfavorably with salaries paid to parliamentarians in some other European countries and to the salaries received by many members of the European Parliament, but it is not a pittance.

When MPs first received salaries in the early 20th century, most members regarded their parliamentary work as supplementary to their everyday jobs. Recently however, MPs have come to regard politics as a profession and many of them no longer have other paid work. So they have tended to compare their parliamentary salaries with those in other professions and have tended to conclude that they ought to be better rewarded.