IT’S not gone down well, has it? The idea that departing MPs might be given a medal for their service. It’s not gone down well at all.

“What member of the narcissists' fan club thought up this one?” was one of the more considered (and repeatable) Twitter responses to the suggestion by the House of Commons Administration Committee that maybe a medallion of service might help ease the transition of members of parliament who have lost their seat/been booted out by the voters (choose your preferred description) back to civilian life.

To be fair, as is the nature of these things, the medal suggestion was the one that the media zoned in on when the committee’s report “Smoothing the cliff edge: supporting MPs at their point of departure from elected office” was published.

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But it only amounted to some seven words in a 38-page document: “The House Service should work with the Administration Committee and the House of Commons Commission to find, agree and implement a suitable way to mark a Member’s departure. This could be an event with family and friends and/or presentation with a medallion of service, with eligibility at the discretion of the Commission.”

Even so, it’s a bit of a silly idea. One that inevitably is going to get people’s backs up. “Seeing as these throbbers took 70 years to see the need for a #medalforheroes for nuclear test veterans, I can't summon up much enthusiasm,” the Daily Mirror’s Susie Boniface tweeted when the news broke.

With an election due next year perhaps the prospects – or lack thereof – of a life post-Westminster is on some MPs' minds at the moment (particularly on the Tory benches), but the timing of the release of the report does feel a little ill-judged.

Here we are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, with energy bills set to soar again in April, with large swathes of the public sector on strike for better pay and conditions, while politicians earn nearly £60,000 more a year than the national average wage (with another pay rise due in April) and able to claim their energy bills on expenses. And that’s before we get on to any second jobs they might have.

In the circumstances, it is difficult to find much sympathy for MPs at the moment. That’s partly because so many of them are patently doing a terrible job. Mostly the ones in government, it has to be said.

But deep down we might just accept that losing your job in such a public way as an election might not be a lot of fun. Losing your job rarely is. And maybe, just maybe, we might find an ounce of pity in the circumstances. I mean, after we’ve cheered some departures to the rafters that is (yes, Jonathan Gullis, I’m looking at you).

The report does suggest that, aside from senior ministers and Prime Ministers who can earn thousands and even millions post-Westminster from speeches and books, many MPs struggle to find new employment. It also points to the fact that Holyrood and the Senedd in Wales both offer career transition support for departing members. So there is nothing necessarily new in many of their suggestions.

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The fear, Sir Charles Walker, chairman of the committee, said is that the lack of support for members when they leave parliament might put off talented candidates from seeking election in the first place.

But isn’t that as likely to be down to the boorish nature of the institution in the first place? Or its anti-social hours? It’s family-unfriendly structures? A political system that is heavily weighted towards private school education? Political parties who put loyalty before competence?

In short, might there not be factors putting off people from entering politics other than the send-off you get at the end of your political career? And if that’s the case I’m not sure being awarded a medal when you get slung out is going to swing it.