Many former British MPs have difficulty adapting to life in the outside world and finding a job after they leave the House of Commons, a new report said here Friday.A third of the MPs who left Parliament as a result of losing an election had not expected to be defeated, according to a study by the University of Leeds, in northern England. One MP who lost in the 2005 General Election described it as feeling like being "cut off at the knees", the report said.
Researchers found that many former MPs miss being at the centre of British politics. Another ex-MP said "I would wake up in the morning, listen to the radio, and form views on the issues of the day and then I realised that no one wanted to know what I thought".
Professor Kevin Theakston, of the School of Politics and International Studies at the University of Leeds and co-author of the report, said "There has always been anecdotal evidence of ex-MPs who have suffered nervous breakdowns, marriage break-ups, depression and serious debts problems".
"But our project is important because there has been virtually no systematic research into these issues, into what happens to former MPs and into the experience of leaving Parliament".
The report also found that only a quarter of former MPs surveyed were able to return to the career they had had before entering the House of Commons. Around half of those, who did not retire voluntarily from the House of Commons, said it had taken three-to-six months to find a new job. Just one-fifth said they were able to find work immediately or almost immediately. One in seven ex-MPs took over a year to find employment.
The team surveyed 184 ex-MPs from all parties with a combined parliamentary experience of about 3,000 years.