George Osborne is charging £75,000 a pop to give after dinner speeches – more than an MP’s annual salary
The Sun can reveal the former Chancellor has signed up with the world’s most prestigious speaking agency
GEORGE Osborne is charging a massive £75,000 to give after dinner speeches – more than an MP’s annual salary.
The Sun can reveal the former Chancellor has signed up with the world’s most prestigious speaking agency, the Washington Speakers Bureau.
It means he joins an elite club of jet setting former world leaders also represented by the firm based in the US capital.
They already include three ex-British Prime Ministers – Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Sir John Major.
The agency have set Mr Osborne a price minimum of £75,000 for an hour at corporate events, and have already turned away inquiries from firms who want to book him for less, The Sun can also reveal.
The revelation risks angering Mr Osborne’s humble backbench MP colleagues, who are all paid £74,000 a year.
But as he is still in Parliament, the 45-year-old ex-Tory boss will still have to declare every penny he earns in the Register of Members Interests.
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Also on the WSB’s books are former US president George W. Bush and his wife Laura, plus former US Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and General Colin Powell, and ex-New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
Even former EU Commission boss Jose Manuel Barroso - once a Communist – has signed up.
And it emerged tonight that David Cameron is also on the verge of going on the agency’s books.
Ex PMs and presidents are paid even more than Mr Osborne, landing cheques as big as £200,000 for just one speech.
The former Treasury chief for six years is yet to carry out any engagements.
A source close to Mr Osborne said: “The focus of George’s political energies these days are in promoting the Northern Powerhouse and the partnership with businesses and councils".
Mr Osborne is staying away from the Tories’ annual conference this year, which began in Birmingham today.