DESPITE earning more than 90% of UK earners, many MPs choose to take on second jobs.
They range from an extra £50 a year all the way to £1 million.
But questions have been raised in recent weeks after former Tory MP Owen Paterson was found to have broken lobbying rules.
The UK Government has been accused of corruption by opposition parties and there are calls for an end to second jobs for MPs.
The Mirror has reported on the top 10 highest Tory earners in the House of Commons, and it shows many MPs earn far more outside of Parliament than their already generous salary of more than £80,000 per year.
READ MORE: Dominic Raab defends Tory MP earning a fortune for tax haven role
1. Theresa May - £1.6m
Former prime minister May has racked up more money outside of Parliament than any other Tory MP.
After resigning as PM, she signed up to the Washington Speakers Bureau, earning 10 times more than she does as an MP.
May was paid £125,000 for one speech at a women’s forum founded by Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
The Conservative MP took the money despite the ruler being accused of kidnapping his daughters and abusing his wife – on top of the human rights record of the United Arab Emirates.
May even took home £45,000 for Zoom speeches during lockdown.
2. Geoffrey Cox - £1m
The former UK attorney general is second on the list, earning vast sums while working as a barrister.
He previously stopped practising law after he was appointed attorney general in 2018 but since February 2020 has made more than £1m since leaving the Cabinet.
Cox took a role advising the government of the British Virgin Islands in an inquiry launched by the UK Foreign Office.
He has been heavily criticised for making so much money advising a tax haven.
Cox previously got himself into trouble after failing to meet the deadline for declaring £400,000 worth of legal work in 2016.
And in the same year, he attempted to claim 49p for a pint of milk on commons expenses but was rejected by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.
READ MORE: Pete Wishart asks police to investigate Tory ‘cash for honours’ scandal
3. Sir John Redwood - £439k
The Wokingham in Berkshire MP has earned hundreds of thousands of pounds working for several private investment firms.
Redwood chairs the investment committee of Charles Stanley, bringing in £15,606 a month since the last UK election, with the firm also paying him bonuses.
The money hasn’t stopped the MP trying to claim £112 for reseeding the lawn at his constituency home.
He was later ordered to pay the money back – a decision he said was unfair.
4. Fiona Bruce - £400k
Slightly below Redwood on the pay scale is Bruce, the Prime Minister’s envoy on the human right to freedom of religion or belief.
While an MP Bruce has continued to work for her own firm, Fiona Bruce and Co LLB since her election in 2010.
Bruce said that her four largest payments in the last 18 months were “almost entirely tax payments not receipts by me” but “for technical reasons have to be declared.”
5. Andrew Mitchell - £335k
The Sutton Coldfield MP has made several times more than his MP salary while working for private investment companies.
Among the firms is SouthBridge, an African-based bank that paid the Tory £39,600 for just nine days’ work.
Again, Mitchell’s wealth hasn’t stopped him from claiming expenses that have been considered questionable by some.
During the expenses scandal in 2009, Mitchell claimed £19,000 for cleaning, decorating and gardening – including for a duvet stuffed with goose down.
Mitchel later defended his actions, saying it was less than he was entitled to claim.
6. Sajid Javid - £276k
Months after resigning as chancellor in February 2020, Javid was handed two roles with a combined salary of £300,000.
He began a £150,000 a year role with bank JP Morgan in August last year.
Sajid had to consult the government's Advisory Committee on Business Appointments about his roles.
READ MORE: Pete Wishart urges Keir Starmer to make complaint to Met over Boris Johnson
The committee warned that the Tory MP’s chancellor’s "privileged access to information" meant taking up the role at the bank carried "potential risks" but nevertheless allowed the appointment to go ahead.
A couple of months later, Javid landed another role for the software form C3.AI, paying him a yearly salary of £151,835.
Like May, he has also raked in money from speeches.
Sajid has now quit both roles after replacing disgraced MP Matt Hancock as Health Secretary.
7. Richard Fuller - £250k
When Fuller lost his seat to Labour in 2017, he took up the role of chief executive of software company Impero Solutions.
After returning to parliament in 2019 he quit his job at the company.
But he was handed a severance payment of £105,000 at the end of March 2020 and the company continued to hire him as an advisory director, where he earned £20,000 for just two months of work.
And the MP maintains several roles advising other firms in the field of software, security and venture capitalism.
7. Owen Paterson - £208k
The disgraced former MP resigned after he was found to have broken lobbying rules.
His role as a consultant at Randox and Lynn’s Country Foods saw him earn around £1000,0000 a year on top of his salary as an MP.
He refused to accept the standards committee’s finding that he lobbied on behalf of both companies, breaking the rules.
After the government attempted to reform the standards process backfired, Paterson resigned as an MP.
9. Sir John Hayes - £202k
Since leaving his ministerial roles under May and David Cameron, Hayes has made money in several different ways.
READ MORE: Sleaze-hit Boris Johnson loses UK opinion poll lead over Labour
As well as advising oil company BBC Energy for £50,000 per year, Hayes delivered lectures on political studies.
10. Nadine Dorries - £157k
Culture Secretary Dorries has made far more money as an author than she has as an MP.
Her books have sold more than 2.5 million copies and as well as advances on new books she regularly receives royalties.
Since writing her first book in 2014 (nine years after her election to parliament), Dorries has written 15 titles.
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