Sunak cashes in
The former PM has followed in the footsteps of his predecessors by making an eye-watering sum from a speaking gig...
A note on who I am: I’m an investigative journalist and current affairs writer who specialises in exposing dark money and radical right-wing ecosystems.
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Acting as though he needs any more money, our multi-millionaire former prime minister Rishi Sunak has announced via his register of interests that he received £160,750 from Bain Capital for appearing at a conference hosted by the U.S. investment bank in April.
Sunak claims the work took three hours, which means his day rate is roughly £428,666. No wonder he didn’t look too bothered about losing the election.
And so, despite the millions he made as a hedge fund manager – and the billions he stands to inherit from his father-in-law – Sunak has followed the well-trodden path of former prime ministers by raking in huge sums from the speaking circuit.
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Boris Johnson, our profligate former PM, has earned more than £6 million since leaving Downing Street via speeches and his book deal. Theresa May, not necessarily a natural after-dinner speaker, has still managed to boost her bank balance by a cool £2.5 million.
What’s the relevance of all this? You may argue that it’s fine for our former leaders to fill their boots. After all, they’re no longer running the country, so there’s no conflict of interest involved in taking hefty wads of cash from the private sector.
I’m not sure that’s entirely true. Aside from the questionable ethics of earning millions from your status as a former elected leader, I think the prospect of making a shed load of money in your post-PM career risks fundamentally warping the decisions you make in office.
Indeed, current and aspiring leaders will be well aware of the healthy pension pot that awaits them. They will always therefore have one eye on their future employment prospects. The end result is a form of political censorship in which our leaders are afraid of ruining their post-Downing Street careers by challenging the firms or the industries that may bestow them with riches when they’ve left the top jobs.
And once this conveyor belt starts whirring, it simply encourages the greedy and self-interested to run for high office – knowing they stand a good chance of making a mint from the process, regardless of the damage they inflict on the country.
The calibre of our recent leaders – and the decisions they’ve taken in office to protect the rich and powerful – sadly provides ample evidence of that fact.
About me
I’m an investigative journalist and current affairs writer who has worked with the New York Times, the Guardian, the Mirror, the New European, Novara Media, New Statesman, Led By Donkeys, and others.
I specialise in exposing dark money and radical right-wing ecosystems, and I’m probably best known for my stories revealing the billions in PPE contracts awarded to Tory friends and donors during the pandemic. I was the first journalist to expose the £100 million+ contracts awarded to Michelle Mone’s firm, PPE Medpro.
I’m the author of two books: Fortress London, and Bullingdon Club Britain.
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I’m always staggered that people would want to hear from them, let alone pay eye-watering sums for the ‘privilege’. I’d go a very very long way to avoid hear bojo utter a syllable
With May it will be her dancing in they pay for.