Analysis comment

£86,883 – Starmer’s £316-an-hour non-parliamentary earnings as an MP

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78 Comments on £86,883 – Starmer’s £316-an-hour non-parliamentary earnings as an MP

According to his register of MP’s interests

Keir Starmer and his front bench have been attacking the Tories for their non-parliamentary earnings. There is much to criticise.

But Starmer’s front bench has numerous occupants who have taken money from huge corporations, including press and other companies hostile to Labour and to socialism – and Starmer himself has earned extensively outside Parliament while an MP, as analysis of his register of interests since 2016 reveals, including from a firm that has represented the Labour right against the party.

In total, Starmer appears to have earned almost £87,000 in just 275 hours, at an average rate of around £315.00. Further payments may yet be declared.

His defenders have pointed out that his most recent payments relate to work done before he was Labour leader – but they still relate to work while he was an MP:

And as a Sky News interview yesterday revealed, in 2017 Starmer was in talks to take an ongoing ‘consultancy job’ with Mishcon de Reya, a firm which has acted for right-wing Labour clients against the party on numerous occasions.

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78 comments

      1. Well, what else can you expect, Pat? Wee stevie’s second job is giving keef a rimjob.

    2. So you back this kind of thing do you? MPs earning £316 an hour when they are supposed to be doing a full time job of representing their constituents. That says a lot about you and where you stand morally.

      Reply

      1. teeside voice
        If you recall it was a month or so ago it was reported Starmer was demanding that Andy McDonald argue against a £15 minimum wage.

    3. ……..and……….

      …….if a LP member was found to be associated, even retrospectively, with any organisation which had taken legal action against the Party they would be charged by the sorry excuse for due process used by the ‘Compliance Unit’ with bringing the Party into disrepute and their feet would not touch the ground.

      Indeed its still going on despite the promises of an improved all singing, all dancing fantastical new system process with bells and whistles which is the best thing since sliced bread which Jonah here has been bragging off and banging on about on this site for most of this year.

      Its an approach based on one law for what cap doffer’s and forelock tugging Uriah Heeps like yourself treat as the ‘important people’ and another for everyone else.

      There. Fixed it for you steveh.

      You’re welcome!

      Reply

      1. Thankyou
        To the best of my knowledge the new system hasn’t been implemented yet. Before the end of the year is what we have been told.
        However the new system will only apply to cases that involve protected characteristics, all other cases will be dealt with using the current system.

      2. Meet the new system. Same as the old one.

        Anyone with even minimal knowledge, experience and qualifications is aware that any system is only as effective as those engaged in running and implementing it allow it to be.

        The observations made here:

        https://www.theguardian.com/business/2006/mar/12/theobserver.observerbusiness5

        are equally valid within the systems environment we are discussing here. As someone qualified and experienced in this field I can confidently advise that you have not got a clue what you are talking about on this matter steveh.

      1. Lundiel……Thats extremely interesting and apart from the obvious good decision from Corbyn to stop the feeding trough of the Knight,I immediately wonder why did Corbyn think that after humiliating Starmer in front of the shadowy cabinet he could have him leading the Brexit negotiations with the Torys and keep him inside the inner circle.without revenge from the knight and his co conspirators….I know it is simple to be critical after the event but it would take an extremely nieve person,or a saint to believe that a high flying ex DPP leader would just take it on the chinn and forget the insult. to his standing in the shadowy cabinet and the Labour party.

      1. Now that is very interesting ..

        A person I know who is by no means a Corbynite or
        left wing said “The Labour members should have chosen
        one of the women to be leader. .Choosing Starmer after Corbyn
        was like putting a young male deer against an old established
        Stag. ”

        AS for Corbyn not thinking Starmer would want revenge ..
        why should he? He no doubt thought that Starmer would
        want to adhere to Party Rules ..

        Corbyn was fooled by Starmer – as were all Labour members
        who voted for him.

  3. His defenders have pointed out that his most recent payments relate to work done before he was Labour leader – but they still relate to work while he was an MP:

    The absolute fookin’ state of that beyond piss-poor excuse. Was patersleaze his party’s leader? 🤔

    Reply

    2. He intends taking it with him, he is going to wear an asbestos suit when he is cremated , he is that thick he thinks it will work.

      Reply

    3. Dead right Wirral, they need caves, graves, cellars and pockets. They cannot operate in the light or open air. They feed from within the hosts. They like children and knives. They are the undead.

      Reply

      1. Yes, sleeps difficult now that his mattress is full of coins and not notes.

  8. Phew!…It’s almost a relief to discover that Sir Keir Rodney’s significant increase in net worth since becoming titular party “leader” (from reported £3m to over £7m in as many months) can be explained away so openly.

    No hint of corruption there then. Move along. Nothing to see here…

    Sir Keir we salute you.

    Reply

  9. One of the most common criticisms of Labour MPs is their lack of knowledge of the real world especially small businesses which make up the vast majority of business and biggest employment providers and taxpayers in the UK economy. MPs seem to have gone from left wing student activist to TU ‘researcher’ then onto an MPs staff until they get a safe seat. This lack of experience means it’s not surprising they are such appalling and embarrassing performers when interviewed by someone vaguely compos mentis that the electorate cringes at the thought of them in government (yes Diane, Angela, Ian, I’m talking about you). I wouldn’t mind if they earned money doing/learning something useful but a lot of it is rearranging currently trendy slogans for a piece in The Guardian. Nice work if you can get it. For the Tories payment is plainly for access to government departments to get massive contracts without any scrutiny or competitive tendering process.

    Reply

  11. Starmer’s as creepy as Crispin Glover’s Mr.World (World is the leader of the New Gods and is a personification of globalization) in TV show American Gods.

    Every socialist should be completely repulsed by this Trilateral Commission imposter.

    Reply

      1. Ever besuited World is described as a ‘Savile Row pyscho’ – seems rather apt….

        Interviewer: “You were in talks to take a job yourself.”

        Starmer : “No I wasn’t. I was in discussion.”

      4. SteveH – Starmer’s watering down the party’s position vis à vis the position as it was under Corbyn.

        Tbh, I haven’t even much sympathy for MPs that are GPs, Dr Rosena Allin-Khanyou et al. You know, the ‘worthy’ examples they all hide behind to justify this stuff.

        Everyone else chooses a career path and sticks to it, why should andsomely recompensed(incl. exopenses) MPs get to double dip?

      6. SteveH- I think most people will be baffled as to why they’ve got so much free time on their hands.

        Given MPs’ salaries – already in the top 10% of earners, then add in expenses, Lisa Nandy for example, claimed over a million £quid in expenses in under 10 years as an MP!

        Do you think it right they had other jobs , whereby they’re earning more than what is supposed to be their primary focus (being an MP) and main source of income?

      7. Andy – Her claims must have been approved, remember she has a lot of travel expenses and she also has a second home to maintain.
        Are there any items in her expenses that you think may be either excessive or illegitimate or are you just sounding off.

      8. Someone asked why MPs can’t be forced to clock on/off and be paid by HoC attendance? Many backbenchers seem to see the HoL as a lark, dropping by now and again usually in the afternoon.

        I know my own MP quite well. And this whole ‘I was attending to constituency matters’ is a pack of BS too.

      9. Andy – That’s an answer to a question I didn’t ask.

      10. SteveH – I was just illustrating the fact that their base salary figure isn’t the whole story. Their lavish expenses and gold-plated pensions – they are enrolled on a final salary scheme linking their retirement income to whatever their pay is when they leave the Commons. Are really quite something else.

    2. Some of us knew what he was like long before he was even a Labour MP. But they still voted for the Turd of a Snake Oil Salesman. Now here we are…..Labour is broke and pathetic.

      Reply

  12. If I were to become leader of the Labour Party (just shut up! No comments yet please), & in my darkest delusion began to wonder how to destroy Socialism from within I would first suspend indefinitely the previous leader from the Party; then I would appoint David Evans as my General Secretary; then……………..

    Reply

  13. In the highly unlikely event that they are forced to stop corporate consultancies (pretend jobs), the next thing that urgently needs fixing is sponsored trips to Israel through the Israeli government cut-outs LFI and CFI. Starmer’s “looking forward to going at the earliest opportunity”
    How about MPs spend their time working for us.

    Reply

  14. The very vague term “consultant”… Big big red flag.

    It’s a word which could mean anything and nothing. You “consult” a consultant. You could consult them on, say, how to improve your IT system (you give them money so they give you their time and knowledge).

    But you can also consult them on how to influence the lawmaking process in your favour…

    Smarmy

    Reply

    1. Perhaps the title of Sub contracter would be more appropriate than “consultant” …..But by far the most appropriate would be “Cowboy” operator.I Wonder why they are not described as “self employed” or limited company and insured appropriately with good public liability insurance.for us to claim against.Not fit for purpose “would be a good claim against them in a court of law.I wonder if they tarmac drives for cash in hand?

      Reply

  15. The most embarrassing political interview in my 62 years was watching Temporary Embarrassment accusing Mini Trump of being a liar and a charlatan on Andrew Marr
    Bottom feeders the pair of them

    Reply

  16. Talk now of the Met investigating corruption, specifically, Tory ‘cash for honours’ claims.

    Does the Met have public confidence to cionduct such an investigation? There have been lots of calls recently for Commissioner Cressida Dick DBE QPM to resign over multiple failings on her watch. Her salary is £270,000 per year btw. She’s still in place largely because she retains the confidence at the highest levels of govt. Her ultimate boss, Priti Patel, retains confidence. As does Starmer, for some bizarre reason?

    How can the Met conduct an objective investigation when the ‘wrong answer’ will result in the Commissioner’s likely dismissal?

    We really need a complertely independent corruption unit like those in other western countries. A unit tasked solely with investigating corruption in all UK institutions, without fear or favour.

    Reply

    1. Hardly bizarre. Starmer worked with Dick on the Jean Charles De Menezes whitewash. That and a previous secondment to MI5 for Dick intimates that both of them work for the security state. That’s one second job he won’t be declaring.

      Reply

      1. lundiel

        It was MI6, i.e., the UK’s foreign threat service, associated in film with Bond and that futuristic-looking building on Albert embankment. Which is strange, as you’d think any sojournment would be with MI5 i.e., domestic related.

        The Met has since taken over the Skripal investigation from the Salisbury Wiltshire force. So maybe something to do with sensitivities around that case?

        I’ve leave it at that, before accusations of being tin-foil hatter come from SteveH.

      2. Lundiel if you only knew how well made your comment is and how close to the truth you are getting. I’m hoping an unexplained nasty accident won’t befall you.

      4. Plain Citizen – Even if conjecture here were spot on, the rich elite wouldn’t be bothered.

        We’re not lawyers or investigatory journalists i.e., we pose no threat, and we’ve got no way of proving any of it. If average Joes on the internet can guess at what’s going on, they’ve probably got bigger problems within their own organisations among staffers.

        They’ve got the MSM onside and judicial system sewn up too – as a last line of defence. Look at Assange’s and Craig Murray’s underreported treatment if you doubt that.

        It’s easier if you come to the conclusion that the country is thoroughly, irredeemably corrupt(short of revolutionary change) and just accept it.

  17. Capitalist democracy is more capitalist than democratic. Parliament is a route to wealth, power and status for the stuffed shirts and blouses left, right and centre. The answer is to remove capitalism. Workers’ control is the only way this shoddy system can be dismissed. So long as we go on electing people to act as our superiors, they will behave as our superiors. Capitalist democracy does not deliver government of the people, by the people for the people, but government of the people by an elite for an elite. Complaining about the corruption is merely the first step. Campaigning for the thoroughgoing transformation of the system is the next.

    Reply

  19. @SteveH rightfully pointed out, Starmer didn’t actually take Mishcon de Reya up on the offer back in 2017. But not due to qualms or concerns around personal integrity.

    Alex Nunns(@alexnunns) -Corbyn’s former speechwriter , highlights this piece tonight >>>

    Corbyn vetoed second job for Starmer in 2017 according to senior Labour sources.

    Poor old SteveH, your hero has feet of clay it appears.

    Reply

    1. I would encourage people here who are basically attatched to the Labour party,or any other to stop feeding the parasites and you can then have a more productive life free from nighmares of having helped the country into the recession of no return..I have never been more pessimistic regarding the future for the younger generation of the working-class people..The comments by the majority on here reflect a schism between political and those that represent themselves in the House of Horrors.

      Reply

  20. Concerning medics spending some time on their profession –
    this is necessary in order to keep up to date and be able to
    continues with work after they leave Parliament.

    Also – it is surely useful to have someone with some up to
    date medical knowledge in Parliament?

    This is a long long way from MPs earning millions from
    Consultancies- which only benefit themselves and which can
    work against .the interests of the UK.

    As for Jess Phillips – what I really object to is not her praise
    of JRM for his occasional kindness – but her attacks on
    Jeremy Corbyn for just doing his job as Labour Leader

    Reply

    1. Amazing hubris from Phillips in thinking she had a shot at the leadership.

      She’d been courted by the same vested interests Starmer now appears to serve. She was heavily promoted by the guardian – a newspaper plagued by its columnists’ poor political judgement – into thinking she was leadership material. Put on a stage and actually having to answer serious questions, she folded like a cheap suit. She later wrote of her performance:

      “I was awful because I was trying to hit a million different lines and messages in 40 seconds.”

      You can understand why Phillips and the PLP’s dominant RW hate the idea of a UK version of US primaries i.e., open democratic selection for candidates. Genuine left-wing candidates would wipe the floor with them in any CLP hustings to choose who stands. These Blairites have no support base either inside(CLPs) or outside the party.

      Reply

      1. Look Andy if a establishment stooge can be chosen by the members of the Labour party then lodgic dictates that anyone can have a go if you are right wing enough…..She just needs a title to impress some members of the Labour party and shes in the door.

  21. “Andy – Does anyone stop you from having a second job.”
    Most if not all employers stop you from having a second job. If you’re lucky enough to be in employed work, read your contract.If you’re employed and found to beworking elsewhere you will essentially be accused of theft, and you will probably be immediately dismissed. That’s why it is unethical for MPs to expect to be treated more favourably. You’re essentially stealing from your constituents, who when they voted for you expected you to put your back and your heart into it. Someone should ask the residents of Holborn and St Pancras what they expected!

    Reply

      2. SteveH,

        Yes, some folks do work two or three jobs. Not usually by choice mind. Fetishising ‘hard work’ as Starmer chose to do in his speech, is an absurdly anachronistic and old-fashioned approach – viewing hard work as being next to godliness. Most people work to live, they don’t live to work. Comparing those folks to MPs tho, is like comparing apples and oranges.

        For the difference with MPs, is they are doing their other paid employment(s) during what most would be classed as the normal work day hours. Read Geoffrey Robinson today, claiming the chief whip, no less, told him it’d be okay to vote from the Caribbean. Many head into city firms in the morning and turn up in the HoC after lunch. They see being an MP as a part-time gig. Do you see the difference and inherent problem with that, SteveH?

  23. Here is a Labour MP who is even worse than I thought.

    From the register of members’ interests:

    Mahmood, Mr Khalid (Birmingham, Perry Barr)

    1. Employment and earnings

    From 1 April 2019 until 30 April 2020, a senior fellow at Policy Exchange (think tank), 8-10 Great George Street, Westminster, London SW1P 3AE. I received £2,088 a month for providing advice on advice on extremism, social cohesion and apprenticeships/vocational training. Hours: 15 hrs a month. (Registered 20 April 2020; updated 29 April 2020 and 15 June 2020)

    I think I am right in saying that David Cameron once described Policy Exchange as his favourite thinktank.

    https://powerbase.info/index.php/Policy_Exchange

    Reply

  24. There is far more useful work in any constituency than one MP and their staff can get through, even if you take the view that politicians should not be doing social work. So all the available time and energy of an elected representative should be focused on doing that constituency work, and on expressing conrtituents’ views on the wider stages. That’s the ethics of it.

    No other paid work should be permitted, that’s the only way to stop the situation turning into mush, with all those plausible-sounding arguments about the “real world”. It has to be kept simple.

    Reply

  25. The spectacular thing about Starmer is that, when he was asked on TV news about his former attempts to land a consultancy with Mishcon de Reya, he said that he hadn’t been “in talks” with them, he had been “in discussions”. So, that’s alright then.

    Reply

  26. Boris Johnson has been shamed into proposing to ban MPs from acting as paid political consultants or lobbyists.
    The Prime Minister caved to pressure to root out sleaze in Parliament only moments before Keir Starmer gave a press conference on Labour plans to clean up politics.
    Labour had been planning to force a vote to end paid directorships and commercial consultancies in Parliament during an opposition day debate on Wednesday.
    But Mr Johnson announced he had written to the Commons Speaker proposing an overhaul to the rules only minutes before the Labour leader got up to make the demand
    https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/breaking-boris-johnson-backs-labours-25473319

    Reply

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