Leading UK Members of Parliament external income 2019-2024
The former Prime Minister Boris Johnson has reportedly earned around 6.4 million pounds since the beginning of the current parliamentary sitting, which began in December 2019. Another former Prime Minister, Theresa May, has earned approximately 3.5 million pounds, making her the MP with the second-highest external income since the 2019 election. Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party, has earned approximately 899,600 pounds since December 2019, the highest among MPs outside the Conservative Party.
Boris Johnson
Eight of the top ten earnings spots are occupied by members of the Conservative Party, and includes the three former Prime Ministers, Boris Johnson, Theresa May, and Liz Truss. While it has been the precedent of many former Prime ministers to take-on speaking engagements since leaving office, the two top spots, Theresa May and Liz Truss were still serving as MP's until the calling of the 2024 General Election. Although he resigned as an MP in June 2023, Johnson had reportedly earned more than a million pounds from four speaking engagements at the end of 2022. These four speaking engagements occurred in the two months after he left office, despite a rule from the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments that members should wait three months after leaving office to take up paid employment.
Members of Parliament and second jobs
The discussion around external methods of MP income generation beyond that of their annual salary has come and gone from public discourse. It made a roaring comeback however after the “Owen Patterson scandal” in October 2021, in which a minister (Owen Patterson) had been found to have broken lobbying rules on paid advocacy. The Prime minister at the time, Boris Johnson, initially tried to save Patterson from a parliamentary suspension but had to U-turn after substantial backlash. The scandal has since been referred to as the “beginning of the end” of Johnson’s premiership, and raised questions surrounding the ethics around MP’s taking on secondary employment, particularly as parliamentary strategists, advisors, and consultants to major firms.
