The Tory grandee at the centre of the second jobs scandal was paid £54,404 for 45 hours’ work, it emerged last night.
Sir Geoffrey Cox received the huge sum in August, the updated register of MPs’ financial interests shows.
It means he got £1,209 for every hour he put in for international law firm Withers – which also pays him £400,000 a year as a ‘consultant global counsel’.
Sir Geoffrey Cox (pictured) received £54,404 for 45 hours work in August, the updated register of MPs’ financial interests shows
After the Daily Mail exposed that the ex-Attorney General had voted remote in Parliament, while in the Caribbean to advise the British Virgin Islands government regarding a corruption case, his earnings were made public.
The Mail then found Sir Geoffrey’s moonlighting had earned him £5.5million as a barrister over the past decade, prompting calls for a crackdown on MPs’ outside earnings.
The revelation came as Dominic Raab yesterday warned MPs they could face an ‘earning limit’ on second jobs.
The Daily Mail published his earnings a week after it was revealed that the former attorney general had voted remotely while in the Caribbean, advising the British Virgin Islands government regarding a corruption case.
The Deputy Prime Minister told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme the amount earned and number of hours could factor into new limits on MPs’ work outside Parliament.
He said that there is still work to be done by the Government to improve morale.
On Wednesday, the Commons backed Boris Johnson’s proposals to ban MPs from taking paid political consultancies and to limit the time they can spend doing second jobs.
But Chris Bryant, the chairman of the cross-party committee tasked with detailing the plans, told Sky News he was worried the Government was trying ‘to bounce everybody into a set of proposals which have not really been thought through very properly’.
Furniture firm profits rise by 4,700% in PPE agreement
Daily Mail Reporter
A furniture firm saw its profits rocket by nearly 4,700 per cent after Matt Hancock helped it land a £29million contract to supply PPE.
The former health secretary referred Nottingham-based Monarch Acoustics Ltd, owned and run by Stuart and Sophie Hopkin, to the fast-track ‘VIP lane’ in May last year.
It was subsequently given a £28.8million Government contract to supply surgical gowns.
MailOnline questions were not answered by Stuart Hopkin (pictured), or Mr Hancock.
Company accounts show the firm’s turnover leapt from £9.8million in 2019 to £38million in 2020. Pre-tax profits also ballooned from just £267,000 to a hefty £12.6million over the same period.
And in 2020 it had £10.2million in the bank – up from £41,000 a year earlier.
The Hopkins, who make up two of the firm’s three directors, live in a detached house near Nottingham which they bought for £1.1million in cash without a mortgage in March.
MailOnline asked Mr Hopkin not to answer questions.
A spokesman for Mr Hancock said the allegations were ‘completely false’ and a Government spokesman said ministers did not award contracts.
The Hopkins’ home in a leafy village near Nottingham that the couple paid £1.15million for in cash without the need for a mortgage in March this year is pictured here