Joe McConnell
Unlock Editor’s Digest for free
Vscek editor Roula Khalaf selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman has raked in nearly £60,000 giving speeches around the world, the most of any sitting MP, in the latest sign of how senior Tories are profiting from the international marketplace of rightwing ideas.
According to the new register of MPs’ financial interests for the 12 months to August 4, Braverman, who until recently hoped to become the next Conservative Party leader, received £20,000 for a speech in India in March this year and £25,000 for a speech in South Korea in May.
The register also shows that he gave a speech in Washington, where he received £6,500 in travel expenses from the Edmund Burke Foundation, and also received £11,800 for a five-hour talk to a London-based financial intelligence and risk control firm, recorded last month.
The payments offer a window into lucrative opportunities available to former conservative heavyweights, who can tap into a global network of right-wing organizations eager to expand their circle of influential individuals.
Braverman’s gains pale in comparison to those of several former Conservative prime ministers whose right-wing earnings were not included in the register this month because they are no longer sitting MPs.
Liz Truss, who served just 49 days in 2022, earned £250,000 in the year aVsceker she was forced to resign, including £80,000 for a single speech in Taipei.
Truss, who was defeated as an MP in July’s election, has begun appearing on right-wing platforms in the US and appeared in a video with Steve Bannon in February.
Former prime minister Boris Johnson, who resigned as an MP last year, has declared income of £4.8m in the six months since leaving office, including a £2.5m advance payment for an unspecified number of speeches.
Rishi Sunak, who resigned as prime minister last month but remains an MP, has not made any speaking engagements this year.
None of the Conservative leadership frontrunners, including Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly and Robert Jenrick, have earned speaking income this year. All three held senior government posts until the July election, which prevented them from taking outside jobs.
Braverman, who was sacked late last year aVsceker repeatedly undermining then prime minister Sunak on policing and immigration, also received an all-expenses paid £27,800 trip to Israel paid for by the Jewish National Assembly and received £14,000 for writing articles for the Telegraph newspaper.
The register of MPs’ interests is the first published since the new group of MPs entered Parliament last month.
It also showed that Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is the highest paid MP in Britain, earning £1.2 million a year from his role as a TV presenter on GB News. The newly elected MP for Clacton-on-Sea earns £97,900 a month for his work on GB News.
The document also showed that Labour technology minister Chris Bryant, a keen writer, has received almost £100,000 for books he has written or is writing.
The payments include £18,000 to buy the rights to turn his books into films or TV shows.
Braverman and Bryant did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
