Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
MPS’ extra cash revealed – from nothing to £290k
Some of Kent’s MPS have received thousands of pounds on top of their annual salary, new data has revealed. Figures published by Westminster Accounts show that UK politicians accepted an extra £17.1 million.
All MPS are paid a base salary of £84,144 – however, millions more are added into the accounts of people and parties who work in government roles. The online database discloses earnings from secondary employment, donations from other associations and gifts, from December 2019 to the present day.
It has been created by Tortoise Media and Sky News who have collected and analysed thousands of donations and payment records from MPS, political parties, and all-party parliamentary groups (APPGS).
The project found that most of the extra earnings went to Conservative politicians, totalling £15.2m.
Labour received an additional £1.2m.
Former Prime Minister Theresa May received the most, earning £2,550,876 since the session began in December 2019. Labour’s shadow foreign secretary David Lammy topped his party’s list with an extra £202,599.
But how do Kent MPS compare?
There are 17 elected Members of Parliament in the county – 16 Conservative and one Labour.
Tory member Tom Tugendhat was top of the list, receiving an extra £289,400, but his office stressed it was not money he had earned on top of his salary. The amount declared was put towards his attempt to win the Conservative Party leadership election in July last year. The Tonbridge and Malling MP was eliminated in the third round of voting.
It was also used to hire staff for the China Research Group and extra employees to support his work when he was chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Second in the list was Tracey Crouch, MP for Chatham and Aylesford, who gained £106,200. Her single biggest pay cheque came from British Racing’s Horse Welfare Board, which paid her £79,040.
She has been an independent member of the board since April 2019.
Dover MP Natalie Elphicke raked in an extra £98,870 – receiving £65,410 from the New Homes Quality Board.
From May 2020 until April 2022, Mrs Elphicke was the chair of the independent not-for-profit body, which was created to bring in new building standards and a New Homes Ombudsman. Medway’s other MPS, Rehman Chishti (Gillingham and Rainham) and Kelly Tolhurst (Rochester and Strood), earned£40,870 and £46,500 respectively. Kent’s only Labour representative, Rosie Duffield, earned £20,990.
The elected Canterbury MP was sent £10,000 from the Union of Shop, Distributive & Allied Workers (USDAW) – one of the UK’S largest trade unions. Gordon Henderson, MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey, has declared donations, earnings, gifts and other benefits worth about £3,890 since December 2019.
On the lower end of the scale was Sir Roger Gale, MP for North Thanet, who received an extra £300.
His came from the The Royal & Ancient Golf Club, in St Andrews, Scotland.
At the bottom of the Kent table is Dartford MP Gareth Johnson, who has not declared any payments or gifts.
His neighbouring MP, Adam Holloway, who represents Gravesham, earned £33,010. Members of parliament are not required to make public their charitable donations so the database does not include members’ outgoing costs to a charity or money given to their local party.
To have a look at the earnings of any MP, visit shorturl. at/cechj