Personally, I like the Singaporean model where they pay their politicians a lot of money in salaries. It seems like such an obvious way to get higher quality talent with less corruption. I vaguely recall that the US president makes 1/4 what George Washington made in salary (with inflation). Congresspersons and Senators should be paid well for their service, given the importance of their job.
I'm of the opinion that politicians above a certain level (in the UK: prime minister, members of Parliament and maybe mayors) should just get a permenant annuity for the rest of their lives on the condition that they can't make money from anything else, ever. No stocks, no "speaking engagements" or do nothing bribery jobs. It would be expensive yes, but cheaper than the cost of corruption. Maybe have the value of the annuity be based of rank, MP gets 300k/y and PM gets 500k/y.
Appreciate the British perspective. I don’t think that would work in the US; the people at the top are the rainmakers for their parties, and the party will take care of them somehow. Rather I think it’s more interesting in a knowledge economy to use the money printer to move talented people into public service who otherwise would’ve wasted their lives in the private sector positioning themselves as close as possible to the money printer (while also setting a high floor price for their services).
Of course, this is an unpopular idea.