‘Success for me is following my parents’ advice and spending less than I earn’

Politicians get lambasted over their fat pensions. But Lembit Öpik, whose parents fled Stalin to come to Bangor, Co. Down, went broke after losing his seat in Westminster. ‘I couldn’t get a job for YEARS’ he said. He did manage to buy an airplane and has tried professional wrestling and a TV career, including I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. He has dated a weather presenter and a pop star and hit the headlines when George Best’s ex wife’s car hit a tree after an evening with Lembit.

What did your parents teach you about money?

Not to spend what you haven’t got. My father was a physics and maths lecturer at Queen’s University in Belfast (originally from Estonia). Most of the time, my mother was busy raising us three kids but she occasionally worked part-time in a canteen.

Money wasn’t tight, but it was tightly managed. My father was determined that our family should live within our means. I have inherited that concern from him, so if I’m spending more than I earn, it really stresses me.

What was the first paid work you ever did?

Working Saturdays in a garage on the Lisburn Road in Belfast from 8.30am until 6pm. I was 15. I’d repair flat tyres and clean the oil off the floor for £5.20 a day. It was physically demanding, but intellectually not demanding at all.

It gave me thinking time. I spent the whole day thinking about things I was trying to work out in my life, particularly what made people tick.

Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?

Yes. The worst time was after I lost my seat as an MP in 2010. I wasn’t expecting to lose and I had no other jobs or directorships, so that day I lost my job I lost my whole income. Within two years, I was insolvent.

My bank sent groups of three people to my house, threatening me, saying if I can’t get my situation sorted out, they would repossess my home.

In the end, I borrowed money and got through. I finally managed to get a job as a director of communications and public affairs for the Motorcycle Action Group.

But that period in between was the darkest time that I have ever had financially.

Did you suffer from depression?

Yes, in a serious way. I’d stay in bed until two or three in the afternoon. I didn’t stop trying to get a job, but it was so hard. I felt crushed by the pressure of failure and a sense of despair.

I had been an MP for 13 years. I had been leader of the Welsh Lib Dems and helped build the party in Wales to the most successful it had ever been.

But after May 2010, I couldn’t get work or even get an interview for any job I applied for. I can see how previously successful people end up on the street. That was where I was heading.

Have you ever been paid silly money?

Yes – £12,500 an hour for a 25-minute speech. If I could have done that a couple of times a month, I would have been a happy guy.

I got a lot of money for I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here in 2010, but it wasn’t as much, per hour, as that speech. Everyone negotiates their fee for that show and my agent got me a terrible deal. One of the great missed financial opportunities of my life is not converting my experience in the jungle into something intelligent outside the jungle.

What is the most expensive thing you bought for fun?

It was an aeroplane. I bought a Mooney M20J in 2005 with three other people for £80,000, so it cost me £20,000. I’m a trained pilot and aviation is my great passion.

The cost of buying a plane pales in comparison to running it.

Do you save into a pension or invest in the stock market?

No. I have a pension through previous employers. I don’t invest in the stock market. I think it takes time to do it well and I haven’t got that time.

To what little luxury do you treat yourself?

Business-class travel. Everything from the speed of check-in to the lounges and the seat gives me a feeling of luxury.

What is your No 1 financial priority?

To balance my books. Success for me is a year when I do what my parents taught me to do – and spend less than I earn.