'Give the country RESPECT' - Liam Fox says MPs should work a 'real job' before standing for election

VETERAN Tory Liam Fox says he'd like to see future Tory MPs be forced to “get a real job” before standing for election.

Dr Fox, who worked as a GP before entering Parliament, said such a move would help politicians better understand what a crisis really was.

In an exclusive interview with GB News, the former Defence Secretary also said the Tories could yet turn around their fortunes and WIN the next General Election.

On creating tougher rules for wannabe-MPs he told Gloria De Piero: “People will often say to me ‘how could you go from medicine into politics if you've had all that training and understanding of the system’.

“Well I actually think there are too few people in Parliament who've done jobs outside. Frankly, I wouldn't allow people in my own party to be Conservative candidates if they hadn't done real jobs outside.

“The idea of going from university, working inside the system and being an MP, I think means you're lacking intellectual nourishment.

“I think if you want to govern a country you should maybe give it the respect of knowing something about it and having worked in it.

“I actually think we need more people who've done real jobs. It gives you a different perspective. I mean a baby with a cord around his neck is in a crisis. Someone who has a cardiac arrest is in a crisis.

“It's different from the day-to-day criticism you get in politics, which is an irritation. And frankly, there are some people who can't tell the difference and either their lives are miserable or they don't take tough decisions because they don't understand what a real crisis feels like.

Liam Fox says he'd like to see future Tory MPs be forced to “get a real job” before standing for election.
Joe Giddens

On why he thinks the Tories could yet pull off a General Election victory, the former Tory Party Chairman said he saw similarities to lead up to the 1992 campaign.

“I see it more like the run up to 92,” he said. “A lot of things I think were similar. We'd been in office a similar length of time. We had a new leader, John Major, as we do with Rishi Sunak today.

“The voters, I think, were disillusioned with the Conservatives, but they hadn't decided to move over to someone else. I think that came later with Tony Blair. I feel this from talking to voters, and after 30 years in a constituency you get to know pretty much what a lot of them think.

“I get the feeling this is much more like the Parliament that led up to the 92 election. I think back in 92, after Black Wednesday, the public eventually decided that they simply didn't want the same government they had decided to make a change. But I don't think they have at the moment.”

On whether he felt the Tories would therefore win with a much-reduced majority he said: “That's not unlikely if you're being objective about it. This Government, with the boundary changes, are defending an even bigger majority than 80.

“That is a very hard number to lose in our political system. So I think that there is a good chance we end up with a Conservative government with a smaller majority.

Dr Fox who twice stood unsuccessfully for the leadership of the Conservative Party, in 2005 and 2016, also opened up to GB News about his views on abortion.

“I think our laws are far too liberal in the United Kingdom,” he said. “The fact that you can abort babies with Down syndrome right up to 40 weeks is absolutely horrendous. We need to look at whether that’s justifiable in any way, shape or form. Of course there are very difficult cases, and as somebody who worked for a short time in obstetrics, you see what those are.

“But I think to see abortion used effectively as a mechanism of birth control is just totally unacceptable.