Conservative MP Stephen McPartland has registered a new £60k second job despite the Owen Paterson scandal

A Conservative MP has taken on an additional job outside of Parliament in the wake of the second jobs scandal which saw Owen Paterson resign last month, according to the register of members’ financial interests.

While a small number of MPs seem to have resigned from outside roles following the increased scrutiny of second jobs among parliamentarians, Stephen McPartland registered a new £60k per annum role on 26 November.

£110,000 per year on top of MP salary

The MP for Stevenage already works 10 hours per month as a non-executive director for retailer Furniture Village, in a role through which he earns £4,166.67 per month.

On top of this existing commitment, and his work as an MP, McPartland will now earn a further £5,000 per month ‘providing strategic advice on expanding geographically into untackled markets and increasing investment activities” for MBU Capital Group.

MBU Capital Group is a London-based private investment firm which, according to its website, focuses on “natural resources, education, cannabis/CBD, and real estate”.

The new role, which began on 1 November, will see McPartland providing consultancy services for up to eight hours per month.

This means that on top of his MP salary of £82k, McPartland earns £110,000 per year for an additional 18 hours work per month.

Polling carried out for NationalWorld found that a significant majority of the public believes MPs should not be able to carry out paid work outside of Parliament.

McPartland is yet to respond to NationalWorld’s request for comment.

Which MPs have quit their second jobs?

The first entry in the register of members’ financial interests since the Owen Paterson scandal shows that a number of MPs have responded by ceasing some or all of their outside employment.

Conservative MPs Steve Brine, Iain Duncan Smith and Julian Smith all resigned from paid roles in November, according to the register.

Andrew Bridgen, Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire, amended his entry regarding a role with a Teak growing firm in Ghana to reflect that it is unpaid.

Bridgen now claims that the advisory role he has held with Mere Plantations since May 2020 has always been unpaid, with him offering consultancy services of approximately eight hours per month at no cost to the firm.

The entry claims that this arrangement will continue until May 2022.

Bridgen is yet to respond to NationalWorld’s request for comment.

Further details on landlord MP’s portfolio

It would also seem that some MPs may have been encouraged to offer further detail or declare interests which they had not done previously.

Conservative MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown has amended his land and property portfolio entry in the register of members’ financial interests.

As highlighted by NationalWorld last month, Clifton-Brown was the only MP not to disclose how many rental properties he owns, with previous entries in the register listing only “various rental properties in London”.

As of 17 November, the entry has been amended to show that Clifton-Brown has “five residential properties in London, purchased between 1994 and 2017”.

Each of these properties generates rental income of at least £10,000 per year, the threshold for declaring rental income.

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