Nigel Farage has registered £270,000 for approximately 12 hours of work as a brand ambassador for gold dealer Direct Bullion, a rate of around £22,500 an hour, in a declaration that lands the same week Parliament debates banning MPs’ second jobs entirely.
Labour MP Richard Burgon, who secured Wednesday’s Westminster Hall debate on the issue, formally wrote to Farage inviting him to attend and defend his earnings. In a letter dated 29 June, two days before the debate, Burgon set out the scale of what Farage has taken since his election: “It has been reported that you have raked in more than £1.5 million from outside earnings. Only former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has declared more. This is, of course, separate from the £5 million ‘gift’ that you have received, which is now the subject of an investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner.”
Burgon’s case
Burgon’s letter laid out the argument behind his bill in plain terms. “Being an MP is not only a privilege but also a well-paid job. MPs receive a salary of £98,599 a year, earning more than 95% of people in our country. The public are entitled to expect that job to have an MP’s full attention.”
He argued that far from bringing valuable outside experience into Parliament, as some second-job MPs claim, chasing lucrative private sector work “leaves them out of touch with the people they are elected to represent, many of whom are experiencing a deep cost-of-living crisis,” and undermines public confidence in politics, which he noted has hit record lows in recent years. His proposed solution is not a cap or a disclosure requirement but an outright ban: “If MPs want to earn huge amounts through private-sector work, they are, of course, entitled to. But they should resign from Parliament before doing so.”
Burgon closed the letter by acknowledging the obvious: “As one of the MPs with the highest outside earnings, I appreciate that you are likely to disagree. I therefore hope you will attend the debate and explain why you believe Members of Parliament should be permitted to earn vast sums from second jobs.” Days after sending the letter, he posted on social media that he had invited Farage and received no reply, adding pointedly that Farage had “just registered £270,000 for 12 hours promoting a gold dealer. That’s £22,500 an HOUR.”
What the declaration says
Farage’s latest register of financial interests shows the Direct Bullion payment as the largest single sum he has declared for work outside Parliament since his election two years ago. Farage has said the work involved an estimated up to four hours a month over a three-month period, working out to roughly 12 hours in total for the £270,000 fee.
A spokesperson for Farage said: “As has previously been reported and declared, Nigel Farage is a brand ambassador for Direct Bullion.” His recent declarations also show he earned £18,402 for around six hours of work as a presenter on GB News, part of a pattern that has made him, according to Burgon’s letter citing Westminster Accounts analysis, the second-highest outside earner of any sitting MP after Rishi Sunak.
The wider pattern
The declaration lands in the middle of an already intense period of scrutiny over Farage’s finances. He remains under formal Parliamentary Standards investigation over his failure to declare the £5m personal gift he received from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, a gift he has variously described as being for personal security, a “reward” for campaigning for Brexit, and, when pressed, simply “none of your business.” Asked by BBC’s Sally Nugent how much of the gift he had spent, he replied: “It’s none of your business.” He gave a similarly evasive answer to Julia Hartley-Brewer, and told Nick Ferrari he could spend it “on Ferraris if he wants.”
He has maintained throughout that he did nothing wrong. “I’m absolutely convinced I’ve done nothing wrong in any way at all,” he said, adding that he did not regret failing to declare the donation at the time. If the Standards probe finds a serious breach, he could be suspended from the Commons, and a suspension of 10 days or more would trigger a recall petition, potentially forcing him to fight his Clacton seat again.
A pattern of scale
What connects the gold bullion payment to the broader Harborne story is not any suggestion of wrongdoing in the Direct Bullion arrangement itself, which has been openly declared, but the sheer scale of money now regularly attached to Farage’s name. £1.5m in total outside earnings since becoming an MP. £270,000 for roughly 12 hours of work with one firm. £5m from a single donor, undeclared for months. A further £9m and £3m in donations to his party from the same source. Reform’s leader has repeatedly said questions about his personal finances are private matters that voters need not concern themselves with, a position his own party’s shadow chancellor Robert Jenrick has publicly broken with, describing questions about the £5m gift as “legitimate for the media to ask.”
Burgon’s debate is a useful test of that broader argument. If Parliament is going to have a serious conversation about whether MPs should be permitted to earn tens of thousands of pounds an hour from private sector work while sitting as elected representatives, Farage’s declaration arrives as close to a live case study as any debate could hope for. Whether he shows up to defend it in person remains to be seen.
4 responses to “Farage paid £22,500 an hour to promote gold bullion, as MPs debate banning second jobs the same week”
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How much has Angela Raiynor made from public speaking?
£25,000. For a 20 min speech for property mark. -
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I believe being an MP is a full time role and the need for second paid roles is unacceptable. If there is a need to maintain registration for professionals e.g., doctor this should be maintained by volunteer work
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I agree entirely … if you take away that earning power that political power seems to engender, we’d surely get MPs dedicated to the public good instead of many actually thinking “What’s in it for me?”
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