Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman has quietly raked in nearly £60,000 from international speaking fees, making her the highest-earning MP for giving talks this year. Here’s the full story.
“Mad, Bad and Dangerous”
Disgraced former Home Secretary and Conservative leadership dropout Suella Braverman may have had her hopes of leading her party dashed because, in her words, she has been branded too “mad, bad and dangerous,” but she is still doing better than many of her peers.
Narrowly Retained Her Seat
Braverman was one of the lucky few Conservatives to keep her seat in the 2024 general election, albeit with her majority reduced by 20,000 votes.
Highest-Earning MP From Speaking
However, that was not the only stroke of luck for Braverman. According to recent figures released in the Register of Members Financial Interests, she has emerged as the highest-earning MP in Parliament from international speaking engagements.
Earns £60,000 for Speeches
The sums involved in booking Braverman to speak at an event are considerable: in the last year alone, she has made nearly £60,000 for giving speeches on various topics.
High-Paying International Engagements
In March, Braverman was paid £20,000 for a speech in India, £25,000 for another speaking engagement in South Korea in May, and £11,800 for a five-hour talk at a financial intelligence and risk control company in London—amounting to an hourly wage of over £2,000.
Also Earns From Writing
Like many MPs, Braverman also has other jobs. In addition to being paid to give speeches, she earned £14,000 for opinion articles she wrote for the Conservative-supporting newspaper The Telegraph.
Controversial Articles Sparked Outrage
However, these substantial earnings for a few writing jobs may have been overshadowed by the controversy over some of her articles, including one in which she claimed “Islamists are in charge of Britain now,” and another published in The Times, which accused police of playing favourites “when it comes to protesters,” which ultimately led to her being sacked as Home Secretary.
Funded by Edmund Burke Foundation
The Register of Members Financial Interests also revealed that Braverman declared £6,500 in expenses paid for by the Edmund Burke Foundation, which hosted the National Conservatism Conference.
Leadership Hopes Dashed by Speech
However, this money will likely have been of little comfort to Braverman after her speech at the event caused controversy, which many within her party have claimed ultimately led to her withdrawing from the Conservative leadership race.
“Centrist Cranks” Critique Causes Stir
Braverman’s speech at the National Conservatism Conference in Brussels claimed the Conservative Party was at risk of becoming “a collection of fanatical, irrelevant, centrist cranks.”
Criticised Pride Flag Display
However, the part of her speech which led to the most outrage was when she compared the flying of the Progress Pride flag, which includes additional stripes to represent marginalised groups within the LGBTQ+ community, to the mutilation of children.
“Presided Over Mutilation”
Braverman stated, “What the Progress flag says to me is one monstrous thing: that I was a member of a government that presided over the mutilation of children in our hospitals and from our schools.”
Truss Also Earns Big
Despite falling out of favour with their party, Braverman is not the only Conservative who has made inconsiderable sums of money from speaking engagements. Liz Truss, who served as Prime Minister for 49 days during which she managed to crash the economy with her disastrous mini-budget, declared earnings of £250,000 in the year following her resignation, including one speech in Taipei, Taiwan for which Truss nabbed £80,000.
Boris Johnson Tops Earnings
However, neither Braverman nor Truss can match the eye-watering sums of money earned by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was forced to resign by his own party after a series of scandals made his position untenable.
£4.8 Million for Johnson
Six months after being unceremoniously ejected from Number 10, Johnson earned a staggering £4.8 million from speaking engagements alone.
Nigel Farage Earns Even More
While Braverman leads in earnings from speaking engagements among current MPs, Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, stands far above the pack as the highest-earning MP overall.
Farage’s Lucrative Media Role
Farage’s financial disclosures reveal that he earns nearly £100,000 a month for presenting his show on the hedge fund-backed, right-wing GB News channel, alongside smaller but still considerable amounts from social media, the personalised video app Cameo, and writing articles for The Telegraph.
Ethics of Speaking Circuit Questioned
While the speaking circuit offers lucrative opportunities for current MPs like Braverman, a platform to promote their ideas and extend their influence, the sheer amount of money being made has fuelled the ongoing debate about the appropriateness of such activities, particularly with so many recent examples ending in disaster for the speaker.
Public Service or Personal Gain?
However, it remains to be seen whether the piles of money being earned by politicians, both current and former, will lead to a nationwide discussion about the ethics of utilising public service for personal gain.
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Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock / Fred Duval.