Osborne got £80k for speech to ex-boy racer called Gangster Smurf
SACKED former chancellor George Osborne picked up an £80,000 pay cheque for a two-hour speech from a former Essex trader known as ‘Gangster Smurf’.
Futures broker Rob Palmer, 34, arranged the event in New York to ‘show off’ to his influential clients, it was reported.
The speech was recorded on Mr Osborne’s declaration of financial interests as being hosted by Palmex Derivatives, set up by Mr Palmer in 2014 to receive commission payments from his work.
At the time of the event on October 27, the firm was registered to a £600,000 property owned by Mr Palmer’s parents in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. The only other director of the company was his-Luton born partner Kirsty Lewis, 32, who listed her occupation as ‘homemaker’.
‘For somebody to be able to invite individuals to hear a speech by the immediate ex-chancellor, there’s a degree of kudos there,’ one source told The Times. ‘There’s an element in any broker of showing off.’ Mr Palmer’s highpowered career contrasts with his younger days when he once advertised his £6,000 second-hand boy racer Subaru Impreza online using the joke alias ‘Gangster Smurf ’.
In the House of Commons register of members’ interests, Mr Osborne said a payment of £80,240 was expected from Palmex Derivatives, with travel and accommodation also provided by the firm.
A spokesman for the former Chancellor said: ‘George Osborne’s contract for his speech last October was with the Washington Speakers Bureau, as all his contracts have been since signing with the Bureau, rather than with any specific financial firm. The event was hosted by the named firm. As Mr Osborne is continuing as a Member of the House of Commons, the speech was, quite rightly, declared and registered in accordance with the parliamentary rules. The Washington Speakers Bureau is a highly reputable company which has worked with every British Prime Minister since Margaret Thatcher.’
Mr Osborne has been criticised for taking a string of highly paid jobs while still a backbench MP.
He has pocketed £620,000 from speeches to banks and other City institutions, as well as taking a job with investment firm BlackRock which is expected to come with a £200,000 salary. That is one of five roles he has undertaken, earning him the nickname ‘Five jobs George’. Earlier this month it was revealed he was paid £51,829 from HSBC for giving a speech on January 18, which involved two hours’ work.
In addition, he registered a payment of £40,567 from St James’s Place Wealth Management firm for a speech on January 27 which involved three hours’ work.
Mr Osborne has also accepted a paid position as the first ever Kissinger Fellow at Arizona’s McCain Institute for International Leadership. He is also chairman of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership.
He has defended his additional work, saying it is part of his ‘varied and interesting’ contribution to national life.
In contrast to the privately educated Mr Osborne, Mr Palmer was better known for his love of fast cars in his younger days.
He once owned a MY98 Impreza Turbo 2000, a vehicle often favoured by boy racers.
Using the light-hearted name Gangster Smurf, he described how it included a stainless exhaust, a top of the range head unit, fitted flamer kit and new subwoofer music system.
Selling the car for £6,300 or nearest offer in 2004, he added that it was ‘washed and polished every week’.
He explained that his moniker came from his previous car looking like a Smurf and his new vehicle looking more ‘gangster-ish’.
He insisted it was not to be taken seriously.Mr Palmer, previously worked for Sigma Broking in the City of London but is now believed to be working in Dubai. He did not respond to requests for comment.
Five-jobs-George earns another £92,000 in just five hours From the Mail, February 9