British politicians have earned a total of £17.1m from second jobs since the last general election – with the vast majority coming from Conservative MPs.

A total of £15.2m was earned by Tories in addition to their base salary of £84,144, with their members occupying 17 spots in the top 20.

Former Prime Minister Theresa May was the biggest earner, taking home more than £2.5m in outside earnings, according to research from Sky News and Tortoise.

The former Prime Minister has made millions from speeches, including £408,200 for six speaking events at the Cambridge Speaker Series in California, as well as big sums from investment firms JP Morgan and Apax Partners.

She pipped former attorney general Geoffrey Cox, who earned around £2.2 million from legal work since 2019 while serving as Tory MP for Torridge and West Devon. 

Mr Cox faced off calls to resign in 2021 when it was revealed he had provided legal advice to the British Virgin Isles – a tax haven under investigation for corruption charges.

Regarding his other dealings, Mr Cox said there was ‘no conflict of interest between my work as a barrister and my role as a member of parliament’.

Boris Johnson has also earned over a million pounds from just four speeches since being ousted as PM last year, charging rates of more than £30,000 an hour.

Mr Johnson’s register of interests reveals he accepted nearly £50,000 in donations from Tory donor Lord Bamford since resigning, along with having his flights and accommodation paid for by Rupert Murdoch during trips to the US.

Meanwhile, Labour MPs earned a total of £1.2m from outside work, with frontbenchers Jess Phillips and David Lammy making six figure sums for media appearances and broadcast work.

Mr Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, took home £202,000 in addition to his salary as an MP since the last election, much of which came from part-time work presenting a radio show on LBC.

Meanwhile, Ms Phillips pocketed £162,000 from book deals and media appearances – including £15,000 for hosting Have I Got News for You.

Former Cabinet ministers Sajid Javid, Sir John Redwood, Chris Grayling and David Davis were other top earners on the list, alongside Sinn Fein MP John Finucane.

Liberal Democrat MPs made an additional £171,000 and SNP MPs banked £149,000.

During an interview with Sky News, Sir Keir Starmer defended Mr Lammy’s outside earnings despite previously backing a ban on MPs holding second jobs.

‘David does a lot of media work,’ he told Sky News. ‘Broadly speaking there’s a million miles from someone advising a company on strategy and someone writing a book.’

‘But there’s a discussion to be had. I was urging the whole House of Commons to agree to new rules because I do think we should get rid of second jobs with some exceptions.

Prior to becoming leader of the opposition in 2020, Mr Starmer himself received around £26,000 from additional legal work while serving as a Labour MP.

‘Transparency is a good thing,’ Starmer said. ‘The more transparency the better so everybody can see what has been declared and ask whatever questions they want about it.’

Last May, the Standards Committee’s recommended MPs be banned from working as parliamentary strategists, advisers or consultants.

They also suggested MPs should not take part in parliamentary proceedings where outside work may present a conflict of interest.

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