How Our Local MPs Make Money From Side Gigs



Can you imagine having a demanding job representing up to 100,000 people, earning £86,000 pa and taking other jobs on the side ? Most people would baulk at the thought, but British MPs are, unbelievably, allowed to do this and some use this loophole with gusto. Boris Johnson was famously unable to get by on a PM's salary, let alone an MP's megre stipend.

With a general election likely this year, inReading decided to take a closer look at the grift of Reading’s MPs - Labour’s Matt Rodda, ardent Tory Brexiteer Sir John Redwood and his fellow Conservative, the soon to retire environmental hero, Sir Alok Sharma.

Mr Rodda, representing East Reading, receives no outside payment and has to make do on an MP's salary of £86,584, although MPs can also claim expenses for various costs related to their parliamentary duties, such as staffing, office, travel, accommodation, and food. However, they must follow certain rules and limits set by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), which also monitors and regulates their claims following the 'expenses scandal' in 2009.

Here are some examples of what MPs can and cannot claim on expenses:

MPs can employ staff to support their work, but they have a capped budget and cannot hire new connected parties (such as close family members) since 2017. They can have a constituency office and claim for its costs, such as rent, utilities, stationery, and equipment, and also use a payment card or direct suppliers to pay for some of these costs.  Travel costs between their constituency and Westminster can be claimed, as well as within their constituency, and for other parliamentary purposes. They can use public transport, taxis, or their own vehicles, but they must provide evidence and receipts for their claims.

MPs whose constituencies are outside London can claim for rent or hotel costs for a second residence in London, or for associated costs if they own or rent a second property. They cannot claim for mortgage payments or for grace and favour accommodation (such as 10 Downing Street). MPs can claim up to £25 per night for food expenses if they stay overnight outside of both their constituency and the London area - that won't get you far on Deliveroo these days. They cannot claim for alcohol or for food in parliamentary restaurants and bars, which are subsidised by public money.

So, before looking at their outside earning, let's have a peek at what our local MPs claimed from the public purse for allowable expenses - and it should be added that they have to handle a phenomenal caseload with these payments.

Mr Rodda, MP for Reading East, spent £5,984.00 on travel, £27,490.29 on office costs, £714.30 on staff travel and a whopping £213,628.97 on staffing during the last full financial year (22/23).

Mr Redwood, MP for Wokingham, spent £5,443.84 on accommodation, £2,609.83 on office costs and £101,873.17 on staffing last year.

Mr Sharma, MP for Reading West spent £5,190.55 on travel, £19,020.01on office costs, £2,930.81 on staff travel and £122,718.50 on staffing during the same year.

However, it seems that some of our local Tory MPs struggle to get by on their paltry Parliamentary salary, so they have taken outside work to top up their meagre earnings.

One of the longest sitting in the House of Commons, Mr Redwood has a couple of side gigs. One pays £5k a year and takes under an hour a month, but the other takes 50 hours a month. That's nearly a week and a half a month where he isn't being an MP but a consultant to a London stockbroker owned by a major US financial company.

Considering that he was a major supporter of Truss and Kwateng's budget you really have to ask what value these financiers think they are getting for their £220k a year. Yes, £220,000 a year.

The good people of South Reading and Wokingham have obviously never seen this as a problem since Mr Redwood has been incumbent for thirty six years with a current majority of 11,000 and plans to stand again in the new Bracknell Forest constituency.

It should also be noted that Sir John led Thatcher's policy unit that resulted in the privatisation of energy, water and much else in the 1980s, so he is to blame as much as anyone for the pollution and water shortages that are resulting now in our borough. 

Meanwhile over in West Reading, his colleague Sir Alok has decided to stand down as his constituency is considerably reshaped. A former chartered accountant and Secretary of State for Business and for International Development, he was knighted in recognition of his highly regarded, but now somewhat pointless work on COP26, the Climate Change Conference of the Parties held in Glasgow in November 2021.

Most of his outside earnings are for speaking engagements and advising on environment related issues:

18 May 2023, he received £20,000 from J.P. Morgan Securities for a 4 hour speaking engagement. 

6 July 2023, received £29,993 from Neue Zuercher Zeitung AG, Falkenstrasse 11, CH 8008 Zurich, Switzerland, for a 4 hour speaking engagement.

From 1 September 2023 until further notice, he was appointed as an Adviser on geopolitical and economic trends, green finance, carbon transition and strategic issues to Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, receiving £50,000 a quarter. 

On 26 October 2023, he received £12,000 from White & Case LLP for a 3 hour virtual speaking-panel engagement.

11 December 2023, received £12,000 from WHEB Asset Management LLP for a 3 hour speaking engagement. 

30 October 2023, received £33,598 from UBS AG Singapore for a 6 hour speaking engagement. 

Payments from Matson, Driscoll & Damico UK LLP on 19 December 2023, £12,500 as an advance part-fee, and a further payment of £12,500 expected as a further part-fee for a 6 hour speaking engagement on 9 January 2024. 

That’s a total of just over £170,000 pro rata paid during 2023 and considerably more looking forward.

Nice work if you can get it ! But the reality is, until the rules governing our elected representatives' outside interests are revised (perhaps we need a Fourth Reform Act), it is up to the voters of Reading to consider if these are acceptable side hustles. We shall have the chance to voice our opinions within the next year.