What jobs ex-presidents/ex-prime ministers should and should not be doing?

[Ed Anger]

FFS, Yi, just answer the question.  This isn't amusing, it's childish.

Seedy's attack poodle, 1d-6! ACORNACORNACORN

First, I have no fucking clue what the question is.

Second, if I did understand the question, pairing it up with an insult would not be the way to get me to respond.

Cast "blueberries" then "dirty Slav". Counterattack!

[Barrister]

The typical route in Canada is that former Prime Ministers get hired on by major law firms (even if they are not, in fact, lawyers).  They can then milk all their political connections for clients without being directly employed by those clients.

[The Larch]

This is actually a bit of an issue over here as well, as the presence of former presidents and ministers in the boards of private companies after their time in politics is over is becoming controversial. Aznar is on Murdoch's payroll, and Felipe González on Slim's.

Currently in Spain I believe that the rules are that once they leave their position they must remain out of sight for a couple of years, but after that they're free to do whatever they want, on top of collecting their state pensions. Also, our ex-presidents tend to still be quite young when they leave their positions, so you can't really expect them to just chill at home. Zapatero and Aznar were 51 when they left office, González was 54.

[Valmy]

I don't think there is any easy answer there.  Obviously it is disturbing to see quasi corrupt bargains going on but what can you do?  It is the same deal the campaign contributions thing.

[Admiral Yi]

I think the acceptability of corporate board jobs depend on what exactly they do there.  If they're just doing regular look-out-for-the-shareholder board stuff it's OK.  Sure they got the job because of what they used to do, but that's true of every board member everywhere.  And I don't think most board jobs pay the really, really big dollars.

It gets smellier if they're leveraging the prestige of the office to clean up a company's reputation.  It gets a lot smellier if their board job is a de facto lobbying job.

[Barrister]

I think the acceptability of corporate board jobs depend on what exactly they do there.  If they're just doing regular look-out-for-the-shareholder board stuff it's OK.  Sure they got the job because of what they used to do, but that's true of every board member everywhere.  And I don't think most board jobs pay the really, really big dollars.

IIRC Al Gore has tens of millions of dollars of Apple stock as a result of sitting on their board.

[Valmy]

I think the acceptability of corporate board jobs depend on what exactly they do there.

Or rather if they did anything for them when they were in office.  'Hey take of us and you got a sweet job waiting for you when your term expires'.

[Admiral Yi]

IIRC Al Gore has tens of millions of dollars of Apple stock as a result of sitting on their board.

Sure, but how much of that is due to Apple's phenomenal appreciation?

I'm no great fan of Internet Al and would be very happy to catch him in an underhanded activity, but I think he passes the sniff test.  Plus the rules are different for ex-veeps.

[Sheilbh]

From a lot of responses here it seems like the issue is them getting rich. Isn't it the peddling of influence?

I don't generally have a problem with it. I can't think of any meaningful limits that could be placed on it. But then I don't mind sitting politicians having roles as, say, non-executive directors or consultants.

[Valmy]

Isn't it the peddling of influence?

Yep.  I have a problem with it but there really is nothing to be done, it is the sort of soft corruption that is endemic in our system.  You just have to hope the personal honor and discretion of the politicians and organizations involved will prevail and keep any quid pro quos type situations as limited as possible.

[The Brain]

Ok, so again something prompted by a revelation in Polish media that Polish ex-President, Kwasniewski, is on the pay roll of one of the richest people in Poland, acting as a business consultant. There has also been a situation few years ago where the former chancellor of Germany was acting as a business consultant for Gazprom.

So the question to you today is - by your country's standards - are there any (legal) jobs that a former head of state/head of government should not be doing once out of the office or is it a free for all situation and he is permitted to leverage his position to land some sweet consultancy?

For the record, ex-Presidents in Poland get a life time state pension.

I don't have a problem with ex-PMs working, which they often do as business consultants. Nor does Sweden.

[MadImmortalMan]

I think the acceptability of corporate board jobs depend on what exactly they do there.  If they're just doing regular look-out-for-the-shareholder board stuff it's OK.  Sure they got the job because of what they used to do, but that's true of every board member everywhere.  And I don't think most board jobs pay the really, really big dollars.

IIRC Al Gore has tens of millions of dollars of Apple stock as a result of sitting on their board.

Though it's worth a lot less than it was a few months ago.

[Drakken]

They should have the right of doing whatever they want after a minimum of cooldown time, as long as it is legal and ethical (hence why I agree with mandatory cooldown periods).  Networking comes with the territory of associating yourself with power.

It's not like they are getting out of jail after a felony sentence and a criminal record. They (presumably) served their office honestly, and should reap the benefits of doing so without hindrance, or even distrust. Former politicians cannot be punished because they "may" have networked with powerful groups while in office, just because people whine about it not being fair.

[Warspite]

If the promise of lucrative gigs - within acceptable limits, of course - after leaving government helps keep them on the straight and narrow while they're in office, then this is a good thing. Offices of state tend to have relatively modest salaries; e.g., the UK PM earns only a shade over £100k. That peanuts compared to what one could get as head of even a modestly sized company.

The alternative is that heads of government seek to build their wealth while in power, and then you have turned into Africa.