Sir Geoffrey Cox has earned more than £5.5 million from his work as a lawyer while he has been an MP, the Daily Mail can reveal today.
According to official records, the ex-Attorney General faced a sleaze investigation. The vast amount was 10,700 times more than his MP salary.
Boris Johnson was rocked by public outrage over revelations that Sir Geoffrey, who was advising the British Virgin Islands tax haven of corruption and held themselves in lockdown for several weeks while voting in Parliament from the Caribbean. Last night, the Prime Minister attempted to read the riot act to MPs, telling them: ‘You must put your job as an MP first and you must devote yourself primarily and above all to your constituents.’
Mr Johnson said MPs who broke the rules should be ‘punished’. And in a sign of concern that the sleaze row is damaging Britain’s international reputation, he told the UN-sponsored climate summit in Glasgow that the UK ‘is not a remotely corrupt country, and nor do I believe our institutions are corrupt’.
Sir Geoffrey Cox (pictured) has earned more than £5.5 million from his work as a lawyer while he has been an MP, the Daily Mail can reveal today
But the PM backed the right of MPs to continue taking paid second jobs, saying they had ‘actually strengthened our democracy’ over centuries.
His effort to bring MPs back into line was undermined by a defiant statement from Sir Geoffrey, in which he claimed his work trip to the Caribbean during lockdown in April had been sanctioned by the Government’s chief whip Mark Spencer.
Last night it was claimed Sir Geoffrey was in another tax haven – Mauritius – for business this week.
The Daily Mirror reported that the MP was on a ‘short business trip’ on the island nation where he met ‘quite a few people’ for meetings.
Mail was told by a source that the government did not know Sir Geoffrey’s location, but expected him to be back next week.
According to official records, the ex-Attorney General who is being investigated for fraud, worked 10,700 hourly for this large sum. Official records also show that his MP salary was much lower than what he earned as Attorney General.
The following was the result:
- Kathryn Stone (Parliamentary Standards Commissioner) was looking at launching an investigation over claims Sir Geoffrey misused his taxpayer-funded Commons to carry out work on his Caribbean Contract.
- Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said the PM should apologise after getting it ‘very badly wrong’ in his bid to block the suspension of former minister Owen Paterson for breaking lobbying rules;
- Andrew Bowie quit as vice-chairman of the Tory party after telling friends he could no longer defend the PM’s handling of sleaze allegations;
- Video footage showed Sir Geoffrey complaining that the need to register outside work was a ‘profound invasion’ into an MP’s life;
- Sir Lindsay Hoyle is the Commons Speaker. He said ex-MPs that were involved with lobbying should be barred from holding parliamentary permits.
- Polling guru Sir John Curtice said it was becoming clear the sleaze row had ‘cost the Conservatives some support’.
Sir Geoffrey did not respond to questions from the Mail yesterday over his huge earnings from ‘moonlighting’. But in a statement posted on his website, the former Cabinet minister said he ‘makes no secret’ of his outside work, which is recorded in Parliament’s register of MPs’ interests.
Analysis of his entries by the Mail show he has been paid £5.5 million for 10,700 hours of outside legal work since 2009 – when MPs were first forced to declare the scale of their earnings. He has spent an average of 30 hours per week on his second job over the years.
In his statement yesterday he claimed to ‘regularly work 70-hour weeks’ and insisted that his constituency work was ‘given primary importance and fully carried out’.
Government sources told reporters on Tuesday that Mr Spencer had reprimanded Sir Geoffrey and ordered him to be ‘physically present’ in Parliament. But in a damaging response, Sir Geoffrey said he had informed Mr Spencer that he planned to vote by proxy from the Caribbean and been told it was ‘appropriate’.
This claim raises new questions regarding the judgement of Mr Spencer who is being pressured by Tory MPs to resign over his failed attempt at saving Mr Paterson which resulted in humiliating U-turns.
The video footage seems to have Sir Geoffrey speaking at the British Virgin Islands inquiry by videolink from his Commons office in September 14th. Labour referred the footage to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, and suggested Sir Geoffrey may have broken rules stating MPs must ‘ensure that their use of public resources is always in support of their parliamentary duties’.
Sir Geoffrey said he would ‘fully co-operate’ but he ‘did not believe he had breached the rules’.
Yesterday night, Tory MPs were growing angry at the PM for his handling of Paterson.
One senior MP said there ‘a lot of very unhappy people’, adding: ‘Boris has failed to get a grip on this and it is now in danger of spiralling completely out of control.’
Another said: ‘He’s right to say people should be punished for lobbying, but it was only last week that he forced us through the lobbies to prevent that happening to Owen Paterson. He’s all over the place.’
Nice work if you can get it
By Simon Walters Martin Beckford, Daily Mail
The staggering detail of how Sir Geoffrey Cox earned more than £5.5 million from ‘moonlighting’ as a lawyer can be revealed today.
Records show the former Cabinet Minister has spent a staggering 10,700 hours on his ‘second job’ since 2009, lining his pockets as a leading barrister.
He devoted almost 30 hours a week to his legal work in some years, earning an average of more than £500 an hour, according to the Commons Register of Interests.
Sir Geoffrey’s recorded £5.51 million outside earnings would have been far higher had he not spent a year and a half as Attorney General – or if it included similar income from his first four years in the Commons when MPs were not required to give details of such pay.
Sir Geoffrey’s 10,700 hour non-parliamentary private work over the last 12 years equals five years of an average 40-hour week.
Some of it was earned abroad, including the Cayman Islands – a well-known tax haven like the British Virgin Islands, where his controversial work linked to an anti-corruption drive has got him into trouble. Sir Geoffrey was able to defend McKeeva Bush in an anti-corruption trial that took place in 2014.
The staggering detail of how Sir Geoffrey Cox earned more than £5.5 million from ‘moonlighting’ as a lawyer can be revealed today (file image)
A Standards Commission inquiry is being conducted against the MP in relation to his activities for British Virgin Islands as part of a case of corruption brought forward by the UK Government.
He was filmed in his Commons office, participating in remote work and in violation of the rules prohibiting MPs from using publicly funded offices to do non-parliamentary work.
A statement from his office said: ‘As for the allegation that he breached the parliamentary code of conduct on one occasion, on September 14, 2021, by being in his office while participating in an online hearing in the public inquiry and voting in the House of Commons, he understands the matter has been referred to the Parliamentary Commissioner and he will fully co-operate with her investigation.
‘He does not believe that he breached the rules but will of course accept the judgment of the Parliamentary Commissioner or of the committee on the matter.’
Sir Geoffrey (61), has been a barrister from 1982 long before entering politics and was made a QC by the Court in 2003.
Records show the former Cabinet Minister has spent a staggering 10,700 hours on his ‘second job’ since 2009, lining his pockets as a leading barrister (file image)
After being elected in 2005 as Conservative MP for Torridge & West Devon, he continued his professional career. Initially, his entries in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests simply declared that he earned money from ‘Practice at the Bar of England and Wales’.
However, starting in 2009, the rules tightened and he had to keep track of every dollar he made as a highly-paid barrister, covering all aspects from criminal trials to foreign state advice.
In total, his declared outside earnings stand at £5.51 million, but he has also been paid close to £800,000 as an MP over the same period. Sir Geoffrey also received a ministerial salary of £94,450 when he was Attorney General, meaning he would have received close to another £150,000 during the 18 months he held the post.
As well as solicitors’ firms in London who instructed him, he has been paid by the government of Mauritius and legal chambers in the Cayman Islands, Dubai and India. In September 2020, he became ‘consultant global counsel’ to international law firm Withers, earning £468,000 for up to 48 hours’ work a month.
As of this month, his salary has gone down to £400,000 for up to 41 hours’ work each month.
One of Sir Geoffrey’s biggest paydays was a £325,000 payment from London law firm Janes for 500 hours’ work in 2015.
He devoted almost 30 hours a week to his legal work in some years, earning an average of more than £500 an hour, according to the Commons Register of Interests (file image)
In addition to his massive annual salary from Withers, he has received several extra payments from the firm in recent months, equivalent to more than £1,000 an hour. He billed £63,143 for 50 hours’ work in June – equivalent to £1,262 an hour. In the same month, London law firm Khan Partnership paid him £4,166 for four hours’ work – £1,041 an hour.
This was almost 100 times more than his constituents typically earn, with the median hourly pay in his constituency standing at £10.48 an hour in 2020, according to the Office for National Statistics.
A statement issued on Sir Geoffrey’s behalf yesterday said: ‘He is a leading barrister in England and makes no secret of his professional activities. Sir Geoffrey regularly works 70-hour weeks and always ensures that his casework on behalf of his constituents is given primary importance and fully carried out.’
Labour MP Anneliese Dodds said: ‘This year Tory MP Geoffrey Cox earned over £700,000 defending a tax haven against corruption charges. This year the Conservatives cut £7.4 million in Universal Credit from his Torridge and West Devon constituency. You can’t serve your constituents and be a Caribbean-based barrister.’
Let the lockdown loophole go? Can he get around the ban on travel?
Glen Keogh, Jason Groves, and Glen Keogh contributed to the Daily Mail
According to some reports, the former attorney general used a loophole within lockdown laws in order to fly to Caribbean to escape from bans on foreign travel in April.
Sir Geoffrey Cox, however, has not yet made clear when exactly he visited the British Virgin Islands in order to complete his second lucrative job.
According to local reports, he arrived three weeks prior to the lifting of the British ban on international travel. There were limited exemptions for those deemed to be on ‘essential’ business.
Court documents state Sir Geoffrey was at an inquiry in the island’s capital Tortola on May 13 and May 18. He posted photos on Twitter nine days later, opening up a social center at Hartford Bridge Park in Devon.
At the time, the British Virgin Islands were on the UK’s amber travel list, meaning anyone returning had to isolate at home for ten days. But a Whitehall source pointed out that the Government had introduced a ‘test and release’ scheme.
Sun searching: Sir Geoffrey is in Devon, just days after being in British Virgin Islands.
This saw very limited exemptions for ‘crown servants’, foreign diplomats and essential workers to avoid quarantine after as little as five days if they had a negative PCR test.
Sir Geoffrey didn’t respond yesterday to any questions regarding his travels or the quarantine arrangements he made.
The following month, he made another visit to the Caribbean islands. The British Foreign Office has ordered him to advise the BVI’s government. He was advising the tax haven that is being accused of corruption. Reporters were told this week that Sir Geoffrey is ‘abroad’.
His wife Jeanie arrived at their Devon home alone in her black Land Rover but refused to answer the Daily Mail’s enquiry about the whereabouts of her husband. She said: ‘No. You have nothing to tell me. I don’t care what you want to know.’
£110k for defending Cayman politician In a corruption trial
Tom Witherow, Daily Mail
Sir Geoffrey Cox earned up to £110,000 defending the controversial former premier of the Cayman Islands in a high profile corruption trial.
After this paper exposed that he had used Covid rules for voting in Parliament from British Virgin Islands, the Tory MP has been at the center of the dispute over second jobs.
It has now emerged Sir Geoffrey, 61, was paid £355 an hour for eight weeks’ work for the Cayman Islands law firm that represented then opposition leader McKeeva Bush.
In the periods he was paid by Travers, Thorp, Alberga, he made one speech of just 46 words in the Commons, bolstering critics’ claims that he is an absentee MP.
Sir Geoffrey won the case against Bush’s claims that he took $50,000 out of his government credit card in order to gamble in the US, Bahamas and Canada.
Bush was convicted of 11 counts for official misconduct and breaching public trust and had to be removed from office. But he was acquitted after Sir Geoffrey argued he was the subject of ‘a cynical plot of breathtaking proportions’ at the hands of a British-appointed official pursuing a ‘personal vendetta’.
It has now emerged Sir Geoffrey, 61, was paid £355 an hour for eight weeks’ work for the Cayman Islands law firm that represented then opposition leader McKeeva Bush (pictured)
The MPs’ register of interests showed Sir Geoffrey earned £110,000 working for the firm between July and August 2013, and July and October 2014. It is not known whether all 310 hours were devoted to Bush’s case, but the payments all fall within the period between Bush being charged in March 2013 and his acquittal in October 2014.
In total Sir Geoffrey earned £820,000 between December 2012 and October 2014 for 1,552 hours of work as a barrister – equivalent to almost ten months of work.
The 2018 criticism he received was severe for not declaring that he’d earned thousands while working in tax havens caused him to be subject to harsh criticism.
Bush is facing a variety of charges including corruption, sexual assault, and assault. Last December he was handed a suspended sentence for a ‘shameful’ drunken assault on a woman, captured on CCTV. He was then asked to resign from his post as Caymanian parliament speaker.
He was accused of groping an employee in a Florida casino and was later charged with battery.
Later, the charges were dropped.
In a statement yesterday Sir Geoffrey said he regularly works 70-hour weeks and always ensures his constituents’ casework is given primary importance and fully carried out.