Chris Bryant’s having a good week. The former Chair of the Standards Committee is back with a new job on Labour’s front bench, on the same day the latest publication of the register of interests reveals he also raked in a whopping £20,800 from Bloomsbury Publishing for recording his new audiobook. With all these employment opportunities, Guido was surprised to see Chris managed to find the time to appear on Politics Live this morning. And the cause Bryant chose to champion… banning additional jobs for MPs.
Bryant wasn’t alone in making the most of political perks. Rachel Reeves enjoyed the summer in a holiday home stay worth £1,400, as Keir Starmer took a £2,142 hospitality ticket to the football. Penny Mordaunt also enjoyed a £2,300 trip to Goodwood. And they say our politicians are out of touch.
One year on from Truss’s acceptance speech, it seems she isn’t doing too badly for herself. She received £32,000 for a speaking engagement last month. Meanwhile, Rishi reverted to type with a £15,026.45 helicopter ride to a political event. How’s he gonna spin this…
Our elected officials haven’t let spending time in their constituencies get in the way of their summer plans, at least going by the latest update to the register of interests. Countless MPs enjoyed all expenses-paid freebies to the social events of the season, including Wimbledon, the Ashes and Glastonbury. Here are some of the more interesting examples:
Hospitality freebies aren’t the only perks enjoyed by our political elite caste. In addition to the lucrative second jobs, Liz Truss got £32,000 for attending a Dublin conference, Kwasi Kwarteng got £35,000 for two speaking arrangements, Alok Sharma lined up a £30,000 gig and Johnny Mercer bagged an additional £49,200 as a “broadcast fee for filming already undertaken”. Nice work, if you can get it…
It’s festival season and our elected officials aren’t letting their parliamentary duties stop them from making the most of it. According to the latest register of interests, seven Labour MPs, including two Shadow Cabinet members, registered expenses-paid trips to Glastonbury – to the tune of £13,500. These were: Ed Miliband, Louise Haigh, Alex Sobel, Kevin Brennan, Darren Jones, Clive Lewis and Mark Tami. All registered their donations across days in the working week and man of the people Clive Lewis was the only name on the list not to take up hospitality tickets. Ed Davey also had a good month, in addition to getting two all-inclusive Glasto tickets worth £2,462, he also registered £36,500 in donations. Will that be made out to his personal services company?
Whilst Labour MPs lived it up in Glasto, cricket appeared to be the preferred summer pass time for Conservatives. James Daly, James Morris, Bob Blackman and Michael Tomlinson all took a trip to the Netherlands with the APPG for cricket, worth a combined £5,000, whilst Claire Coutinho, Ruth Edwards and Andrew Griffith raked in £1,200 in Ashes hospitality tickets. It wouldn’t be a register of interests update without yet more Prime Ministerial plane bills. This time, Rishi’s donor-funded jet-setting amounted to a measly £55,000.
Despite her (still unforthcoming) resignation from parliament Nadine Dorries is doing alright for herself. In the latest update to the Register of Members’ Interests update, she recorded a £20,500 book advance – perhaps related to her reported “political whodunnit” of Boris’s “assassination”. Alok Sharma is another Boris backer bringing in the big bucks, with a £20,000 after dinner speech to JP Morgan, as Theresa May has also raked in a £20,500 advance for her forthcoming book. Not too shabby…
As usual, Westminster is not lacking for MPs enjoying all expenses-paid hospitality. Liz Truss enjoyed trips to Taiwan and Switzerland, earning her a combined £112,000, as Rishi clocked in yet another £9,300 in helicopter travel. A cabal of lefty parliamentarians indulged in lavish trips: Chi Onwurah and her partner made a romantic getaway to California, worth £10,000; Yasmin Qureshi joined three other Labour MPs in gay-hating Pakistan, Jeremy Corbyn jetted off to Norway and Angus MacNeil took a £7,000 trip to Qatar. Meanwhile, Keir Starmer made the most of a hotel stay worth £937. For one night.
Keir Starmer has had a good start to the month, after enjoying all expenses-paid tickets to a Coldplay concert, at the cost of £700, he then enjoyed a day at the races. Of course, it’s nothing short of the best prawn cocktails for the Labour leader, who enjoyed hospitality in a private box worth £3,716. Not bad for the son of a tool-maker, from a pebbledash semi…
Sir Keir isn’t the only Party Leader enjoying the high life – Rishi spent a further £6,618 of donor money on private air travel. Meanwhile, Theresa May has again been lapping up the California sun whilst touring the speaker circuit – this time she took home £71,000 from her travels. Kwasi Kwarteng got £27,000 for a speech of his own whilst his ideological soulmate, Liz Truss, registered (unpaid) trips to Taiwan and Denmark worth £12,000.
Lefty MPs are also partial to their fair share of jet-setting. Imran Hussain, Tahir Ali and Yasin Mohammed enjoyed visits to Islamabad – where homosexuality is a criminal act – worth £5,400, courtesy of the Pakistani government. Jeremy Corbyn went on a jolly to Hungary and Rushanara Ali took a £7,100 trip to Qatar. Just don’t tell Sir Keir…
The latest Register of Interests update has been released, and as always, Guido brings you the highlights. Boris has had another good showing, taking £239,009.42 for his speech in Lagos, although £180,323.85 was deducted in relation to an advance paid out earlier this year. Boris wasn’t the only ex-Prime Minister remunerated for their oratory skills… although Liz Truss isn’t quite cashing the big cheques just yet. She received £7,600 to cover travel and accommodation for her trip to D.C. for the Margaret Thatcher Freedom Lecture last month. Although she also registered a £50,000 private donation from business tycoon Jeremy Hosking to “for staff and office costs to support [her] with policy”…
Keir Starmer accepted two tickets worth a total of £700 to watch Arsenal draw with West Ham, courtesy of Mulalley & Co. Limited. His Shadow Cabinet colleague David Lammy accepted his usual pocket money from LBC, this time worth £4,000. Over on GB News, Jacob Rees-Mogg received £32,083.34 for the 40 hours’ work put in for his new show. A price worth paying to repeatedly whack Piers in the ratings…
The testicle-munching jungle bronze medallist Matt Hancock is still bringing home the TV big bucks, taking in a whopping £10,000 for a single interview on Good Morning Britain. He also got £1,600 to read out the audiobook he co-authored with Isabel Oakeshott. Which might help with any legal bills after she gave his WhatsApps to the Telegraph.
Finally, Neil Hudson, Graham Stuart, Bill Wiggin, Nigel Adams, Aaron Bell, and Crispin Blunt each received £700 to head to sunny Corfu for a cricket tournament whilst Parliament was sitting. As always, nice work if you can get it…
