Suella Braverman is the latest senior Tory to be cashing in on the international speaking circuit, as it was revealed she was paid nearly £60,000 for making speeches around the world, the highest of any current MP.
The former home secretary received £25,000 to speak in South Korea in May, according to the first register of MPs’ financial interests of this parliament, and she received £20,000 for another speaking engagement in India in March.
Braverman also declared that she received £14,000 for articles she wrote for the Telegraph, and she also had an all-expenses trip to Israel worth £27,800 paid for by the National Jewish Assembly.
Last month Braverman declared she received £10,800 for a five-hour talk to a financial intelligence and risk control firm in London, and she also made a speech in Washington during which she was paid £6,500 in expenses for the trip by the Edmund Burke Foundation.
Braverman had been hoping to become the next Conservative party leader until recently. She would have been the only Tory leadership hopeful who had registered income from making speeches during the year. Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly and Robert Jenrick had senior government jobs that stopped them from taking outside work.
The former prime minister Liz Truss made £250,000 the year after she was ousted from No 10, including £80,000 for one speech in Taipei, Taiwan.
Rishi Sunak, who remains an MP but stood down as prime minister last month, has not registered any speaking engagements for the year.
Boris Johnson in 2023 declared an income of £4.8m within the first six months of leaving No 10, including an advance payment of £2.5m for an unspecified number of speeches.
In the same register of interests, Nigel Farage appears to have become the highest-earning MP. The Reform UK leader declared he was paid £97,900 a month for presenting and consultancy services by GB News, the channel co-owned by the hedge fund billionaire Paul Marshall.
In addition to his work with GB News, Farage received £16,597.22 from the video app Cameo and £4,000 for writing articles for The Telegraph.
Previously, the highest-earning MP was Geoffrey Cox, a Tory who also works as a barrister. He was paid £293,400 by the law firm Withers, and also collected a payment of £379,000 from an Indian chambers in July for work carried out in 2016 to 2018.
Braverman and Farage have been approached for comment.
• This article was amended on 21 August 2024 to clarify that the £97,900 declared by Nigel Farage for presenting and consultancy services with GB News is a monthly figure.
