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But military officers, school officials and senior doctors don't generally have to spend thousands of their own money applying for a job, with no guarantee of success, and they don't typically get to take a five- or ten-year year career break and then just stroll back into their old career again afterwards.

MPs who become part of the government often do fairly well out of it, obviously more so the more senior the government position(s) they hold, and there are a lot more members of the government than most people realise. But rank and file MPs often get a pretty raw deal compared to the kinds of alternative options anyone with the attributes to be a good MP would probably have.