Nine-job Nigel Farage earns the highest amount of any MP outside of the Commons – while one Tory MP has declared seven extra income sources.
New figures lay bare the amount of money Parliamentarians earn from second, third, fourth – and even ninth – jobs. It comes as the Government looks to shake up the rules.
Currently MPs are allowed to juggle their day-to-day duties in the Commons with additional work, just as long as they declare it. Since being elected to represent the people of Clacton in July, Reform UK boss Mr Farage has declared £571,585 on top of his £91,346 salary.
Meanwhile Tory Sir Geoffrey Cox has pocketed the next biggest sum – £228,700 – in that time. And former Tory minister George Freeman has received over £80,500 since the election. The Government is currently drawing up new rules – but have ruled out a blanket ban.
Last week Commons leader Lucy Powell promised a clamp down on MPs getting paid for jobs that distract from their roles and damage Parliament’s repution. In a veiled swipe at Mr Farage – who hosts a show on GB News and has declared £219,505.40 from the channel – voiced concern about “ongoing employment contracts with media organisations”.
Use our interactive tool below to see who Parliament’s biggest earners are
All second jobs are listed on the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, which is released fortnightly. The most recent register covers income declared up to Monday, January 20. Exclusive analysis by the Reach Data Unit has revealed how much money MPs have received from additional jobs since the general election on July 4.
Nigel Farage is Parliament’s top outside earner
Nigel Farage has more sources of additional work than any other MP.
The Reform UK leader has been juggling nine jobs in between his work as the MP for Clacton and trips to the USA. He’s received payments totalling £571,585 for those jobs since the general election, which is also more than any other MP.
He has spent an estimated 572 hours earning extra cash since July, the register shows. His earnings include £219,506 for presenting his show on GB News. Part of that payment is for work carried out before the election. He received payments from the broadcaster at the end of September, October and November totalling £137,899 – all of which was for post-election work.
Mr Farage sparked a backlash when he skipped a vote on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill in order to host his show in November.
Mr Farage also received £189,300 for work as a brand ambassador for a company called Direct Bullion, a gold trading company. Cameo video recordings – where punters can get a personal video message from their favourite stars – has earned Nigel Farage a total of £54,006 since the election.
He also received £40,075 and £25,304 for speaking engagements with Nomad Capitalist LLC and AZ Liberty Network respectively, and has a £4,000-a-month arrangement with the Telegraph for writing a column. That works out at a total of £24,000 since the election.
The MP for Clacton has also received thousands of pounds from social media platforms – Google (£11,117), X Corp (£5,482) and Meta (£2,795).
Earleir this month Mr Farage told The Mirror: “I have no personal income but have a company that has outgoings and income and pays people.” He has previously complained about the system for registering MP’s interests, saying “I’m not a PAYE person”.
He said: “The whole parliamentary reporting system for income is a load of nonsense because I’m not a PAYE person. I’m being asked to publish gross income, including VAT, without offsetting what are pretty substantial costs.”
Who else is making the most money outside the Chamber?
Nigel Farage is far from the only MP to have a lot of balls up in the air. Sir Geoffrey Cox has earned the next most of any current MP since the election – an estimated £228,700 – all of which is related to being a lawyer.
The largest proportion of that from a single employer came from Withers LLP. The MP for Torridge and Tavistock receives an annual salary of £293,400 from the firm, which works out as £146,700 since the election in July.
Sir Geoffrey has also received payments totalling £75,000 from the Director of Public Prosecutions Mauritius, £72,000 from The Khan Partnership and £10,000 from Jai Stern Solicitors. In 2021 it emerged he had voted from the British Virgin Islands where the government was paying him for legal services.
George Freeman has earned the next most of any MP. The representative for Mid Norfolk has seven additional jobs, which is the second highest number after Nigel Farage.
Mr Freeman’s extra work has seen him receive an estimated £80,500 since the election. His top paying role has been Science and Technology Advisor for the Pioneer Group Limited. The role pays a monthly salary of £5,000, which works out as £25,000 since the election.
A job as Adviser (Science & Technology) at GHGSat Limited is also worth £5,000 a month. That job had a later start date though so will have only paid £20,000 to date. Former chief of staff to Theresa May and current MP for West Suffolk, Nick Timothy, has earned the next most.
His job as a Telegraph columnist pays £145,000 a year according to the register (if only all journalism contracts were so generous). That means he has earned an estimated £72,500 since the election.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Sir Oliver Dowden has the next highest additional earnings at £70,000. That comes from two roles as a strategic advisor; firstly from Caxton Associates (£60,000), and secondly from Heni (£10,000).
Earnings from Elon Musk’s X
Mr Farage’s Reform UK MPs have pocketed nearly £12,000 from Elon Musk’s X/ Twitter since entering Parliament.
The party leader, along with ex-Tory Lee Anderson and Rupert Lowe all get a share of the ad revenue on their tweets on the social network. No other party’s MPs have earned any money from X.
Rupert Lowe has earned the most, having received £7,763 from X since the election. Nigel Farage has received the next most (£5,482), followed by Richard Tice (£2,981) and Lee Anderson (£1,928).
Lee Anderson, much like his party leader, has also pocketed a huge salary from GB News. The Ashfield MP also receives an annual salary of £100,000 from the broadcaster. That means he’s received £50,000 from GB News since the election.
Earnings from books
MPs have earned a combined total of £140,835 between them for writing books.
Labour MP Yuan Yang has earned the most from books, a total of £39,730. Her book, Private Revolutions, was published in May last year, before she became an MP.
The figures in our search tool show payments received after the July 4 General Election. In some instances, those payments may be for work done both before and after the election.
There are two types of declaration for additional income – ad-hoc payments and regular payments. Ad-hoc payments are one-off payments received for a specific job. Regular payments are those paid on a specific interval, such as a monthly salary. The amount earned from regular payments has been calculated on a pro-rata basis from July.
Will second (and third, fourth, fifth…) jobs be banned?
No. MPs heard last week that a blanket ban has been considered and ruled out. However there will be a process to determine if outside employment risks a conflict of interest or distracts from their role.
Ms Powell warned that employment agreements with media companies could lead to a perception MPs are making money thanks to their position. The Labour frontbencher also warned second jobs could cause conflicts of interest.
During a question session with the Commons Standards Committee she did not name Mr Farage or his Reform UK colleague Lee Anderson, who are both regular hosts on GB News. But she did say that such agreements could cause “reputational concern”.
Ms Powell, Leader of the House of Commons, said: “I think the issue that is of potential reputational concern for the House as a whole is where there are paid ongoing employment contracts with media organisations – and other organisations – where they could give rise to a percieved conflict of interest or whether they could give rise to this perception that someone is monetising their position as a Member of Parlament.”
