Five-jobs-George earns another £92,000 in just 5 hours
( vote!) but at least he finds time to
GEORGE Osborne has banked another £92,000 for five hours’ work, it emerged last night.
The former chancellor – who was sacked by Theresa May after the EU referendum – has been criticised for taking a string of lucrative jobs while still a backbench MP.
He has already pocketed £620,000 from speeches to banks and other City institutions.
Mr Osborne also accepted a controversial role with US investment firm BlackRock, which is expected to earn him a six-figure salary.
Details of that job, thought to come with a £200,000 pay cheque, have not yet been declared in the register of members’ interests.
But entries published yesterday revealed a payment of £51,829 from HSBC for giving a speech on January 18, which involved two hours’ work. Mr Osborne was also given accommodation and travel, it said. 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 effectively has five jobs including his parliamentary role. As well as his BlackRock job and after- dinner speaking engagements, he has accepted a ‘part-time and paid’ academic position as the first ever Kissinger Fellow at the Arizonabased McCain Institute for International Leadership.
Mr Osborne is also chairman of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, a body promoting his cornerstone economic policies for the north of England.
Last week Mr Osborne, who earns £75,000 as an MP, defended taking on additional work, claiming it was part of his ‘varied and interesting’ contribution to national life.
He said: ‘I was Chancellor of the Exchequer working seven days a week, and now I’m a backbench MP, I made a decision to remain in politics and public life because I wanted to go on contributing to the discussion about helping to improve our country.’
On Tuesday, Mr Osborne missed a vote on the Article 50 Bill because he was in Belgium making a speech against Brexit.
However, he voted with the Government last night.
Details of his latest earnings emerged as Mrs May slapped him down over his claim that she was putting migration cuts ahead of the economy in Brexit talks.
Asked about his comments in an interview with the New Statesman magazine, Mrs May accused him of taking a ‘binary’ approach.
She added: ‘What we say is: what is the outcome that we want to achieve? And it is possible to achieve an outcome which is both a good result for the economy and is a good result for people who want us to control immigration.’