Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is the biggest earning MP in Parliament and will hit the seven-figure milestone this week – the Mirror can reveal how he has done it
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has trousered one million pounds from 12 different jobs since he was elected MP ten months ago.
Mr Farage is comfortably the highest earning MP in Parliament, according to the House of Commons Register of Interests, and by the end of this week we calculate his total gross income since July’s general election will hit £1,002,669. He has managed this by devoting more time than any other MP to his outside interests – we can reveal he estimates that he spends 25 hours a week on his portfolio of 11 side hustles, according to his register of interests.
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Meanwhile, Mr Farage has only voted in a third of Commons debates so far this Parliament – his voting rate is less than half the average MP. Mr Farage told us: “25 hours a week is a big exaggeration. I am a party leader who travels the country. My voting record is similar to others in that position.”
Our revelations about Mr Farage’s seven-figure payday comes as his party hopes to make gains in Thursday’s local elections. A Labour spokesperson said: “It’s embarrassing that Nigel Farage spent decades trying to get into parliament, and now he has, he does everything but represent voters’ interests.”
A Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: “Farage cashing in on over a million pounds since being elected is a staggering milestone that shows where his real priorities lie – and it’s not with his constituents. Whether he’s swanning off to the US to lick Donald Trump’s boots or missing in action in Parliament so he can host TV shows in exchange for a chunky wedge, Farage is playing a part-time politician whilst being a full time grifter.”
Mr Farage’s huge earnings in the 10 months since he was elected MP for Clacton mark a huge turnaround in fortunes for the politician who complained in 2017 that he was “53, separated and skint”. He said then: “There’s no money in politics, particularly doing it the way I’ve done it – 20 years of spending more than you earn.”
But since the Brexit referendum, Mr Farage has built up a £3m property empire and is now raking in around £100,000 a month. His latest outside job is working for Rupert Murdoch’s Australian media company New Corp as a commentator, earning more than £25,000 – the equivalent of a year’s salary for a new nurse – in just 19 hours.
There is no suggestion that Mr Farage has done anything wrong and we do not know how much Mr Farage is making after expenses and tax.
His most lucrative gig is working as a TV presenter on GB News. This has paid him £331,394 since the general election – over four times more than he has earned as an MP in the same time. But Mr Farage’s best paid side-hustle is flogging gold as a tax-free investment for Direct Bullion. This has earned him £280,500 for a maximum of 24 hours of work, or £11,700 an hour.
Working as an MP for £93,904 a year is Mr Farage’s fourth best paid job. He has earned nearly twice as much – £125,304 – selling personalised video messages on the app Cameo. Much of these earnings are paid into Mr Farage’s company Thorn in the Side Limited. The latest accounts show it had £1.7m in cash at the bank at the end of May last year – up from £291,000 a year before that.
Earlier this year, Mr Farage was forced to defend himself against criticism that he spends more time abroad than in Clacton, stating: “I’m out meeting lots of constituents on a regular basis, and you can see me often on a Saturday morning buying the essentials – limes, tonic, all that sort of thing.”
He has faced criticism for jetting off on numerous overseas trips, which have been funded by a further £88,000 in donations. The first was in July, just days after he was elected MP, when he rushed to the US after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. The £32,836 cost of the trip was paid by a party donor and Mr Farage said was there “to support a friend who was almost killed and to represent Clacton on the world stage”.
It was the first of five US trips, including one speaking event in Arizona that paid him £25,304. He flew to the Noman Capitalist conference in September in Kuala Lumper, where he bagged another £40,075 speaking fee. In December, convicted criminal George Cottrell paid £15,277 to fly Mr Farage to Florida to meet Elon Musk at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. Reform UK were reportedly hoping the US tycoon would donate up to $100m (£80m) to the party. But, instead, Farage faced humiliation when Musk called for him to be replaced as leader.
How Nigel ’12 Jobs’ Farage made his million
1) TV presenter on GB News – £331,394
2) Gold bullion seller (for Direct Bullion) – £280,500
3) Personalised video messages on Cameo – £134,643
4) Politician – £76,334
5) Public speaker – £65,379
6) Journalist at the Telegraph – £40,000
7) Australian media pundit – £25,368
8) Influencer on YouTube/Google – £18,375
9) Buy to Let landlord – £16,667 (minimum)
10) Influencer on X – £11,215
11) Influencer on Facebook/Meta – £2,795
12) Nappy salesman (for UKWeSave) – unpaid/unknown
Total = £1,002,669