Former PM tops list as MPs declare £8m in annual earnings on top of their salaries
MPs have declared £8 million in earnings on top of their parliamentary salaries, with Boris Johnson accounting for more than a quarter of the total.
The former prime minister earned £2.3 million in the past 12 months, on top of the £84,000 salary he receives as an MP.
Almost all of that money has come in since Mr Johnson left Downing Street in September, and includes £1.8 million in speaking fees and a £510,000 for his upcoming memoirs, declared on Thursday.
News of the advance for Mr Johnson’s memoirs came as it emerged that the taxpayer could end up spending more than £222,000 on legal fees defending the former prime minister from a Commons inquiry into whether he misled Parliament over partygate.
Mr Johnson’s total outside earnings make him the highest-paid MP over the past year, far outstripping his predecessor Theresa May, who declared £965,000 in speaking fees.
Most of Mrs May’s earnings are used to fund her private office and charitable work, with the former prime minister drawing an annual salary of £85,000 in addition to her MP’s pay.
In total, MPs have declared £8.07 million in outside earnings in the past year, including payments for second jobs, speeches, TV appearances and books.
Legal work
Just three MPs account for half of declared outside earnings: Mr Johnson; Mrs May and former attorney general Sir Geoffrey Cox, who earned £880,290 from his legal work.
Sir Geoffrey was criticised in 2021 after it emerged he had used a proxy to vote in Parliament while working on a corruption inquiry in the British Virgin Islands.
Other high earners include Matt Hancock, who has declared £442,697 over the past year, including £320,000 from appearing on I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!
Nine of the top 10 earners were Conservative MPs, with David Lammy the only Labour MP in the top 10, declaring £108,259. This included £48,908 in speaking fees and £53,500 for presenting shows on LBC.
Some 39 MPs were paid more than the median UK salary of £31,000 in outside earnings alone, although 409 declared no outside earnings at all.
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Johnsons’ staggering personal immorality will be costing us all for years to come so what I would fully expect from a potential Starmer led Labour government is a total shutdown on access to taxpayers ‘ money to sort out his mess and force him to fund it entirely himself. I’m sure he will still be able to rely on dodgy donors to help him out.
The wages of treason have gone up in the Tory government beyond all measure…
Role on tne Westminster Gravey Train – full as usual 🚂……..
So Putin puts Fat Shanks on death row, a dead man jogging. Is there a recording of this conversation, maybe it was the vodka talking. I think Fat Shanks Johnson should take him seriously though, Putin has many on his payroll among the fat man’s friends and fellow MP’s who have already proven they will do just about anything for dirty roubles. A small castle in the Oxford area with special branch to protect him for the rest of his miserable drink sodden life always looking over his shoulder…