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Hands' £9,000 a month for 16 hours work
SOLOMON HUGHES wonders where Greg Hands' interests lie when one of the world's biggest banks is paying him more than his MP's salary
Part-time consultant to BNP Paribas and Chelsea and Fulham MP Greg Hands
EDMUND GRIFFITHS makes a robust defence of sortition, the chosen method of picking attendees for the new left party’s inaugural conference from the membership at random, but sounds the alarm on the eye-watering number of suggested delegates
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IN NOVEMBER I revealed that Chelsea and Fulham Tory MP Greg Hands now has a part-time job with giant French bank BNP Paribas. Hands was a trade minister until June 2018. Now he is a backbench MP moonlighting as a consultant to one of the world’s biggest banks.
At the end of December Hands listed his salary in the Register of Members Interests: he’s getting £9,000 a month. That’s £108,000 a year. An MP’s salary is £77,379. So Hands is being paid more for being an adviser to BNP Paribas than he is to represent his London constituents.
Hands says that he will “earn” his £9,000 a month with just 16 hours work a month — an hourly rate of £562. Either BNP Paribas think Hands is amazing, or they like paying a lot to get ex-ministers working for them.
Hands says the bank wants him to give it a “general commentary on UK and European politics” and meet their clients. Even after the financial collapse and scandals of the banking crisis, the British government has failed to properly regulate banks or to direct their investments into more productive business.
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