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Tory grandees who make thousands from their job on the side
Nicholas Cecil, Deputy Political Editor19 Oct 2009
Tory grandees criticised during the expenses scandal have been raking in thousands of pounds from second jobs, the Standard reveals today.
Douglas Hogg, whose claims included a bill for cleaning the moat at his Lincolnshire mansion, has earned more than £13,000 for 144 hours working as a barrister.
Part of this work was done during March when the Commons was sitting for every day of the working week.
Many MPs argue they can spend time on a job outside Parliament before putting in a full day's work in the Commons and there is no evidence to show that Mr Hogg has not done that.
Today he said: “The Bar is an honourable profession which aside from when I was a minister I have practised throughout my time as an MP; a fact which I have always registered and often referred to.”
He declared £7,771 last month in legal fees and £5,419 the previous month.
The row over MPs' second jobs is set to grow as more and more details emerge of their outside earnings, especially as many of them have claimed more than £100,000 over seven years in the second home allowance.
Sir Peter Viggers, the “duckhouse” MP, declares in the latest Register of Members' Interests that he was paid £4,750 for 27 hours work as chairman of the trustees of Lloyd's Pension Scheme. A member of the Treasury select committee, he is reported to have been asked to repay up to £40,000 by auditor Sir Thomas Legg, but is refusing to do so, although this has not been confirmed.
Former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind, MP for Kensington and Chelsea, was criticised for charging the taxpayer more than £2,500 to fly between London and his main home in Scotland. Since early September, he has registered nearly £15,000 of monthly payments from directorships or other employment.
Click on the image below to see the MPs with lucrative interests
Sir Malcolm said that his outside interests took up a “tiny fraction” of his time. “I always give priority to my parliamentary requirements.”
Senior backbencher Tim Yeo, who claimed for a £900 pink laptop on his Commons expenses, also has a long list of income on top of the MP's salary of nearly £65,000 a year.
Former environment secretary John Gummer, who claimed more than £9,000 a year for gardening, last month earned more than £26,000.
Some Labour MPs also have substantial second incomes. Former arts minister Mark Fisher was paid more than his MP's salary by the Qatar Museums Authority — an annual fee of £67,000.
Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker said: “The worrying large sums of money some MPs are pulling in from outside interests inevitably leads people to question where their priority lies — with their bank account or their constituents.”
Reader views (5)
More British jealousy. You have it, I dont, so I must stop it for you.
- Dave Davies, Basingstoke, Hants, 19/10/2009 18:41
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Now I know precisely WHY there are so many lawyers loitering with intent in the House of Conmen.
Being an MP is a part-time job - for example, my local MP Geraldine Smith attended the House of Conmen for just 59% of the debates last year.
Do not hold your breath that she will now repay 41% of the extortionate expenses she claimed.
As for Hogg, Hogg by name and Hogg by nature.
Stinking pigs the lot of them.
- Reuben Camara, Morecambe Compound, EUSSR, 19/10/2009 18:07
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So what? I've earned money on the side in my working life too - the only difference is the amount I 'raked in'. Giving them grief over it, if it doesn't materially affect their day job and is not illegal ("should be illegal" accusations don't count, logically), is complaint for the sake of complaining. (Different matter if it DOES affect the day job, of course).
- Rogan, Irving, 19/10/2009 17:03
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If an MP is earning money from another job then he\she is not doing the job the tax payer is paying them to do. The MP's salary should be reduced by the amount they earn from other work. Simple solution.
- Mick, London, England, 19/10/2009 16:53
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Hogg states "The Bar is an honourable profession". Why then did he leave it to become a member of one of the most "dishonourable" professions in recent history? Might lucrative "expenses" which have so far been paid without question have been an incentive? Might the fact that an MPs work is so part-time that it allows one to engage in other forms of employment have been a factor? His constituents (and tax payers generally) would be interested to know exactly where his priorities lie.
- R.F.York, Yorks, UK, 19/10/2009 16:49
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