Labour MPs and Keir starmer’s front bench members are under greater scrutiny for their second job earnings on top their tax-paid salaries.
David Lammy, the Secretary of State for Justice, is among the party’s top earners – pocketing more than £140,000 over three years including fees for speeches at Google, Facebook and City giants including Deloitte, Citibank and Swiss pharma giant Novartis.
A MailOnline analysis of receipts which Mr Lammy publishes regularly in accordance with Commons’ rules found his biggest earner was presenting a regular LBC show, which brought in more than £40,000.
And Labour leader Keir Starmer is also in on the act, banking £25,934.10 in legal fees that he earned before becoming Labour leader in the last year alone despite standing on a manifesto pledging to end MPs’ second jobs in 2019. The fees were for 106 hours’ work, equating to £247 per hour.
Starmer was open to a consulting job with Miscon de Reya law firm in 2017, but he turned it down.
David Lammy, the Secretary of State for Justice, has earned more than £141,000 over three years for speeches at Google, Facebook and Deloitte. At the Labour conference, he is visible
Other Labour MPs with second jobs include Khalid Mahmood, MP for Birmingham Perry Bar, who advises think-tank the Policy Exchange on issues including extremism for £25,000 a year.
Rosena Allin-Khan earns extra income as a doctor, while Margaret Hodge has a £20,000-a-year role at Royal Holloway University.
It was revealed today that Geoffrey Cox, former attorney general, has made hundreds of thousands of pounds as a consultant to the British Virgin Islands government. This tax haven is accused of corruption.
There have been fresh calls to reform the regulation surrounding MPs’ second jobs after a botched attempt by the government to block the suspension of disgraced Tory MP Owen Paterson over a lobbying scandal.
In the latest revelation today, it emerged that former Cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell is paid £182,000 on top of his MP’s salary of just under £82,000 for six different consultancy jobs.
He is one of 30 MPs earning thousands of pounds extra a year for work as consultants – prompting calls for the practice to be banned.
This ex-international development secretary works for Investec, a wealth manager for 2 days a Year and Montrose Associates, a strategic consultancy for 8 days a Year.
He also advises consultants Ernst & Young for up to five days a year, investment managers Arch Emerging Markets Partners Ltd for 2.5 days, investment bank SouthBridge for nine days and private equity firm Kingsley Capital Partners for eight days.
Tory MP and former Cabinet minister Owen Paterson quit the Commons last week after a row over a report that found he committed an ‘egregious’ breach of a centuries-old ban on paid lobbying by MPs.
He repeatedly lobbied ministers and officials for two firms, Randox and Lynn’s Country Foods, that paid him more than £100,000 a year.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said his party had ‘long called’ for the MPs’ code of conduct to ban ‘paid directorships and consultancy roles’ for serving members.
Sir Keir added: ‘A change along these lines has been recommended by the independent Committee for Standards in Public Life.’
It recently emerged that the senior Tory MP Geoffrey Cox took advantage of lockdown rules to cast votes in the Commons by proxy as he worked 4,000 miles away on the lucrative contract earlier this year, a source disclosed.
Sir Geoffrey yesterday revealed he has earned more than £1million from outside legal work over the past year on top of his £82,000 salary as a backbencher.
A Whitehall insider said: ‘While he should have been in the UK working for his constituents he’s been over in the British Virgin Islands doing his second job working as a barrister and advising those accused of trousering cash for their mates.’
Dominic Raab, Foreign Secretary today, insisted that the position was legitimate and stated that voters would decide if their MP spends enough time performing parliamentary duties.
A source revealed to Daily Mail that Sir Geoffrey was the most well-paid MP. He spent up to one month in British Virgin Islands, working at Withers (an international law firm), while proxy voting in the Commons.
He has been paid almost £900,000 by Withers over the past year and received more than £130,000 for other legal work.
According to some reports, he may have visited the BVI during April or May 2012. He was reported to have arrived on April 26, as the Commons was discussing anti-corruption global sanctions.
A press release on the BVI government website for that day stated that Sir Geoffrey was ‘currently in quarantine’ but ‘intends to hold a series of meetings with government ministers in the next few weeks’.
He was one of the MPs who were eligible to vote by proxy that day.
The register of financial interests shows he received £156,916.08 from Withers for work undertaken between April 29 and May 31, 2021, totalling 140 hours.
Sir Geoffrey was fired as attorney general in the last year. He represented the BVI government, which is a British Overseas Territory.
It was launched in January by the Foreign Office to establish whether there was evidence of ‘corruption, abuse of office or other serious dishonesty that has taken place in public office in recent years’.
According to the inquiry, there have been allegations that contracts and unaudited spending were given out to political connected individuals.
The hearings have exposed tensions between the BVI’s local government and its governor, who is appointed by the UK.
A senior Whitehall source accused Sir Geoffrey of ‘pocketing hundreds of thousands of pounds to help stop the exposure of corruption in a Caribbean paradise’.
At the time, coronavirus restrictions meant MPs could participate in Commons debates via Zoom and vote by a proxy – meaning they did not have to come to Westminster.
Sir Geoffrey was hired by Withers in September last year as its ‘consultant global counsel’ to advise on private and overseas government clients, according to the firm’s website.
Keir Starmer banked £25,934.10 in legal fees in the last year alone despite standing on a manifesto pledging to end MPs’ second jobs in 2019
His appointment was announced in a post. It noted that he would continue to be MP for Torridge, West Devon, and a privy counselor. He also said that he would remain a barrister at Thomas More Chambers London.
The British Government is funding the ‘core cost’ of the commission of inquiry in the BVI, but will not pay the fees associated with legal counsels appointed by individuals or organisations.
Labour MP Karl Turner said yesterday: ‘How does Geoffrey Cox find time to do his job as a constituency MP?’
The move comes amid increasing calls to prohibit MPs from holding second jobs, which include consulting work. While Sir Geoffrey provided legal services, many of his coworkers take up paid consulting positions.
Sir Geoffrey didn’t respond last night to my request for comment.