By John Kaponi

The Conservative front bench team has created a huge problem for Conservative strategists by winning according to the FT a "concession" from David Cameron that second jobs outside of their front bench duties will remain, despite the economy entering  the first stages of a recession.

The perception that the shadow front bench is a "part-time" commitment will only be reinforced by Labour with this public admission that key members of the shadow cabinet like William Hague the Shadow foreign secretary will be allowed to continue to be involved in at least five private companies, on top of his existing commitments.  Hague is quoted in the FT as having interests in:

AES Engineering - Director
AMT Sybex Group - Director
JCP Group - Parliamentary advisor
Terra Firma Capital Partners - member of political council
Dunalastair Ireland Ltd - Parliamentary adviser

The FT reports:

"Just under half – 15 out of 31 – of the shadow cabinet supplement their £60,000-plus salary as an MP, holding down a total of 23 directorships and 13 other jobs, according to analysis by the Financial Times."

With rumours in Westminster that the Prime Minister is in "no rush" to call an election according to a Labour insider, the Tories are vociferously defending their second and multiple jobs with Alan Duncan the Shadow business secretary saying that Parliament needs to have as much high level business experience as possible in these tough economic times.

“Better to be part-time wise than full-time ignorant.”

Cameron may have quelled a potential rebellion in his front bench team before an expected reshuffle, but what damage this admission will have on the perception that the Conservatives are the party of privilege is still to be seen.  With the economy likely to create well over 2million unemployed and home repossessions likely to accelerate how will the Tories compete against the Labour party?

In a ComRes opinion poll in today's Independent the Tories are heading Labour with the public looking for less public spending and low taxes. According to the highly respected Andrew Grice:

"The Tory leader said Britain could no longer afford the "borrowing binge" and tax rises that would follow. "I suspect there will be lot of 'will he, won't he'. I wish he would just get on with it an hold an election so that the people can decide 'do you want to go on with this crazy borrowing binge which is adding to our debt, building up problems for future generations and delaying the recovery now, or do you want to make a change?" he said. Ministers will counter the Tories' offensive over tax by saying they will slow the planned growth in public spending from 1.8 to 1.2 per cent a year and deliver £5bn of new efficiency savings. They will argue that the lower spending proposed by the Tories would put vital services such as health and education at risk."