Ex-PM Boris Johnson kicked off his cashing-in crusade by trousering an astonishing £276,130 for a single speech.
The shamed former premier bunked off Parliament to speak at a conference in Colorado Springs last month - while the Commons was in session 5,000 miles away.
The sitting MP told insurance brokers about a time he sneaked off with Germany’s Angela Merkel to share a bottle of Emmanuel Macron’s wine.
After a half-hour speech and 45-minute ‘fireside chat’ he is reported to have rejoined a family holiday. The speech was said to have paid over $150,000 (£135,000) but the Commons register of interests today showed it paid £276,130.
It said he devoted eight hours and 30 minutes of work and "transport and accommodation was also provided for me and two members of staff."
He missed a vote on repealing his National Insurance rise, and PMQs the following day.
In the days before the speech, media mogul Rupert Murdoch also paid £11,559 to fly Mr Johnson to a business meeting in Montana.
The entry did not say who Mr Johnson met with, but Mr Murdoch is reported to have bought a large ranch in Montana in December 2021.
The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments watchdog (Acoba) is sifting through multiple requests that could top up his £84,144 salary as an MP.
Labour MP and Standards Committee chairman Chris Bryant said earlier: “Most of his constituents might be a bit perplexed that when the nation is in an economic crisis and families are facing hikes in food and energy costs and mortgages, Mr Johnson decides to take yet another holiday from parliament.”
The ex-PM spoke to the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers in Colorado Springs, US. Mr Johnson has previously broken Acoba’s rules on ex-ministers taking outside work.
His allies insisted the Colorado speech was not a breach because it was a "one-off". Yet the register shoes it was arranged through the Harry Walker speaking agency.
Recent former ministers must seek the watchdog’s permission for all non-one-off outside work, and it is banned completely within three months of their resignation.
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said last month: “ Boris Johnson might claim that this was just a one-off.
“But the rules state that ex-Ministers planning paid-for speaking gigs, joining agency circuits or scribing newspaper columns must submit an application before accepting them.
“The disgraced former Prime Minister and now part-time MP once again has questions to answer about whether he has followed the rules he was once responsible for.
“The anti-corruption watchdog was already toothless, but under the Tories, it’s been muzzled and neutered, leaving an open door to former Ministers who want to line their pockets as soon as they leave office.”
The MP invited 60 Tories earlier this month to his new office in Westminster, where he joked managing the Tory party was like handling his two kids on his rushed flight back from the Caribbean.
Arch-loyalists Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg were among those who clinked Champagne as he gave the speech - thought to be the first of a few for supporters over the coming months.
Despite promising to support his rival Rishi Sunak he also warned he would “protect his legacy” on Ukraine, Brexit, levelling up and the Tories’ 2019 manifesto.
Mr Johnson flew back from a Dominican Republic holiday, taken while he was meant to be in Parliament, and spent a weekend trying to launch a run for No10 - only to pull out when key allies abandoned him.
He is plotting his second money-grabbing speech in a few months - despite still being paid £84,144 a year as the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
He is listed as giving an address of up to an hour on December 2 at an “international symposium” on blockchain, which promises “a new interoperability dimension coupling DeFi and CeFi”.
Given the flight times to Singapore he is likely to miss even more Commons business - after going missing for weeks for a previous speech and Caribbean holiday.
