The Welsh MPs with second jobs
Welsh MPs get paid for a wide range of outside interests from performing live music to nursing and, more controversially, giving advice to private companies, as Welsh Affairs editor Will Hayward reports
IN ANOTHER torrid week for the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has taken responsibility for the UK Government’s botched attempt to get Owen Paterson off the hook after he was found to have broken the rules on paid lobbying.
“On a clear day, I crashed the car into a ditch. I will get the car out of the ditch,” admitted Mr Johnson. But Mr Paterson’s lobbying for two companies, Randox Laboratories and Lynn Country Foods, has put a spotlight on the outside activities of all MPs.
Mr Johnson is now proposing two major changes to the code of conduct for MPs which would ban them from taking up roles as consultants or advisers for private companies and ensure that they do nothing which stops them prioritising their constituents.
If there was an outright ban on MPs taking up roles as consultants or advisers, there would be around 30 MPs affected with Vale of Glamorgan MP Alun Cairns being the only Welsh member. However, this does not mean he is the only Welsh MP to have a second income.
We looked at all the Welsh MPs with more than one income, discounting anything below £500.
It should be stressed that the MPs are not doing anything against the rules and many of these jobs include a clear public service such as nursing.
■ Alun Cairns, Conservative – Vale of Glamorgan
Former Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns resigned from his ministerial role after it emerged one of his staff was accused by a judge of deliberately sabotaging a rape trial.
He is currently holding down three jobs in addition to his role as an MP. For these he is paid £60,000 a year for just over four hours’ work a week.
The Vale of Glamorgan member started a role as a senior adviser at the Crumlin-based BBI Group last summer. To earn his £15,000-a-year salary, which is in addition to his salary as an MP, Mr Cairns advises the company for just 70 hours a year (less than six hours a month).
BBI Group is part of UK-RTC consortium, a group of companies and institutions which develop new coronavirus antibody tests. In partnership with Avacta Group, they have worked on UK Government contracts to manufacture Covid-19 tests.
In addition to this Mr Cairns has, from September 1, 2020, been senior adviser to Newport-based company Veezu Holdings Ltd, which runs Amber Cars and Dragon Taxis.
For this he receives £15,000 a year, paid monthly, for “providing strategic advice”. He has to work 70 hours a year for the money. In the summer he took up another job as an adviser to Elite Partners Capital Pte Ltd, a global property investment firm. For this he has to work 84 hours a year and receives an annual £30,000 for “providing strategic advice” to the board.
■ Chris Bryant, Labour – Rhondda
In addition to his work as an MP, Mr Bryant has written several books, for which he has received tens of thousands of pounds. In the last few years he has received £51,696 from his books, audio books and TV rights from his book.
He has also received £600 from Global Radio for presenting for LBC on January 3, 2021, for three hours.
Additionally, in March 2021 he received £2,000 from Goldman Sachs for speaking at an LGBTQ+ webinar about his book for two hours.
In previous parliaments he has declared payments of thousands of pounds for columns he has written for newspapers. These include:
■ £53,750 for writing a column in the Independent from 2013 to 2014;
■ payments for articles for the Mail on Sunday, which took six hours for £3,400;
■ two articles for the Daily Mirror, for which he received £800;
■ a payment of £500 received in August 2013 from The Times; and
■ in November 2016, £1,500 for appearing on Have I Got News for You.
■ Stephen Kinnock, Labour – Aberavon
Mr Kinnock has been the MP for Aberavon since 2015 and has been paid for the following extra income:
■ £1,000 from Warwick University for being a panellist on Warwick University’s Question Time, October 2019;
■ £750 from law firm Shoosmiths for speaking at a webinar in May 2020 for three hours; and
■ £776 Berggruen Institute, for coauthoring a paper between March 3 and 5, 2019.
■ Sarah Atherton, Conservative – Wrexham
Ms Atherton won her seat in the 2019 General Election.
A qualified nurse, she returned to the frontline during the coronavirus pandemic and worked 61 hours of shifts at Wrexham Maelor Hospital in the summer. She donated the payments to charity.
She said: “Many of those speaking against MPs having second jobs are forgetting about those MPs that are working in public service roles, for example in the NHS. Having worked as a nurse and social worker before becoming an MP, I returned to the Wrexham Maelor Hospital during the Covid-19 pandemic and donated my salary to the Maelor Voluntary Service, a charity that supports the Wrexham Maelor Hospital.
“For many MPs, such outside work is important in order to retain professional qualifications whilst also helping to ensure a vibrancy of experiences and knowledge within Parliament, which can make our elected representatives better at their jobs, whilst ultimately making a positive contribution to our democracy.
“I have personally found that when scrutinising legislation, contributing to debates in Parliament or undertaking casework for constituents, my return to the hospital has been beneficial and has allowed me to better represent those that I serve. Therefore, any blanket ban on second jobs would disadvantage constituents and many MPs’ contributions in Parliament.”
■ Kevin Brennan, Labour – Cardiff West
Mr Brennan was first elected to Parliament in 2001 and his income not relating to his work as an MP is related to the band he is in with three other parliamentarians called MP4.
Through it he has had fees for appearing in the Matt Forde Live Christmas Show in November 2020, where he received £960.28 for rehearsals and a performance in December. He appeared again on the show in 2018, receiving £878.82 for two performances.
■ David Davies, Conservative – Monmouth
Mr Davies has received several payments for appearances on various media outlets:
■ payments from News UK & Ireland Ltd, November 2018, totalling £450, and for taking part in Talk Radio’s Julia Hartley Brewer Show, £1,350; and,
■ has twice received £750 for appearing on Sam Delaney’s News Thing.
■ Jamie Wallis, Conservative – Bridgend
Mr Wallis doesn’t have a second job, although he does currently have shareholdings in 15 companies, some of which are dormant. They are mainly to do with data recovery, though there is one called Quickie Divorce.
Since his election at the end of 2019 he has left directorships at 14 different companies.
■ Dr James Davies, Conservative – Vale of Clwyd
James Davies has earned more than £10,000 working as a doctor since becoming an MP. He seemingly picks up shifts around north Wales and the north east of England, including work on Christmas Eve 2020.
■ Chris Evans, Labour – Islwyn
Mr Evans has twice received £4,400 as an advance for a book he is writing for Bloomsbury Publishing.
■ Simon Hart, Conservative – Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire
Wolverhampton-born Simon Hart has been an MP since 2010 and is the current Welsh Secretary. Mr Hart no longer has any second jobs because he is a member of the Cabinet.
However from November 2015 until July 2019 he worked as a “high net worth consultant” for the Countryside Alliance, at which he was previously chief executive. For this he received £30,000 a year in return for “a commitment of approximately eight hours a week”.
Before this he worked as as an outdoor education consultant for the Countryside Alliance and was paid £20,000 a year for six hours per week from July 2013 until May 2015.
■ Nick Thomas-Symonds, Labour – Torfaen
Mr Thomas-Symonds is a barrister and shadow home secretary who won his seat in 2015. A published author, he has received £4,247 from the Wylie Agency as an advance for a book. He was also given £625 from the Oxford Chinese Economy Programme for a talk on August 5, 2019.