Boris Johnson makes over £21k an hour as MPs second job earnings revealed

Boris Johnson’s second job earnings have been disclosed, with the former prime minister earning a staggering £21,822 an hour for his roles outside of parliament. The former Conservative Party leader has now earned around £4.7m in the last 12 months, mostly for speaking at events overseas.

MPs are allowed to hold second jobs but they must declare additional income, as well as donations, gifts and shareholdings. Those with second jobs have an average wage of £233 per hour in this Parliament, according to Sky News.

Liz Truss, who succeeded Johnson following the Partygate scandal and held her place in office for just 44 days, has the highest hourly rate amongst MPs - making £15,000 an hour for her additional roles. Truss is also raking in the huge payments by speaking abroad on global affairs and she recently pocketed £80,000 for a speech in Taiwan about the threat posed by China.

In addition to the £4.2m Johnson earned for speaking at events over the past year, he also struck a deal with Harper Collins worth £510,000 to write a memoir “like no other”.

Johnson, who previously earned a £86,000 salary as the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, is also said to have secured a “very-high six-figure sum” to write his new column for The Daily Mail. Aside from earning money via speeches, Johnson has also received a number of hefty donations since leaving No 10 – including a £1m donation from Brexiteer Christopher Harborne.

Truss has also received donations since she left office, including £100,000 from Fitriani Hay, the wife of former BP executive James Hay. Following her brief stint as PM, Truss also made £80,000 from the Prospect Foundation for her Taiwan speech, £32,000 for a speech to a newspaper in Switzerland, £65,000 for a speech to a media company in India, and £6,000 for a talk at Tokyo University.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross worked the highest number of hours outside parliament - spending a total of 3,869 hours as a football referee since the last election. Tory MP Sir Geoffrey Cox racked up the highest amount of hours in the private sector, with £2,565 hours worked in his job as a barrister, earning the MP £2.4m since the 2019 election.