Former Chancellor Sajid Javid delivers second lucrative speech to international bank since September

The former Chancellor has now earned almost as much from two speeches as the annual salary for a Cabinet Minister

Sajid Javid has set up a private office to receive payments for speaking arrangements after registering a second lucrative speech for a major international bank in as many months.

The former Chancellor’s new company, SJ Office Ltd, received £36,000 for a speech to clients of Deutsche Bank AG, Javid’s former employer, according to the most recent entry in the register of members’ financial interests.

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In September, Javid earned £30,000 on top of his £84,144 MP salary for giving a speech to senior staff at HSBC. He listed the speech as taking two hours including preparation time, meaning his hourly rate was £15,000.

Javid, one of the most senior figures in the Conservative Party not to take up a role in Rishi Sunak’s cabinet, has almost earned more from two speaking engagements in the last few months than the annual ministerial salary for a Cabinet Minister, which is currently £67,505.

Second speech since September

The senior backbencher who worked for years in banking before entering politics has now earned £66,000 for giving two speeches to international banks in the last two months, one of which is his former employer.

Javid’s entry in the register states that the former leadership hopeful expects to receive payments for “speaking and related engagements,” which will be used to “maintain [his] ongoing involvement in public life and support [his] charitable work”.

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Javid, who lists himself as an “unpaid director” of SJ Office Ltd and is the company’s sole director according to Companies House filings, will pay himself £20,000 per year through the firm.

It also states that the money from speeches and other activities will be used to pay employees, and that Javid expects to commit 12 hours a month to external engagements. No additional hours were listed for the Deutsche Bank AG speech.

The register states that the Deutsche Bank speech was delivered on 10 October 2021, although Javid’s office confirmed to NationalWorld that this is a mistake and he gave the speech last month. They declined to comment any further.

Javid was rumored to be considering a return to banking

Javid will have been entitled to two large ‘loss of office’ severance payments in recent years, each worth around £17,000. Once for resigning as Chancellor in February 2020 after reportedly clashing with Boris Johnson’s then-key adviser Dominic Cummings, and again in July this year when he resigned as Health Secretary.

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After resigning in 2020, he took up two lucrative ‘second jobs’ working as an adviser to investment bank JP Morgan and C3.ai, an AI software firm, earning £150,000 and around £196,000 per year for each respectively. Javid gave up these jobs when he became Health Secretary the following year.

Many expected Javid to be offered a cabinet role in Truss’ government, although The Times’ Tim Shipman reported at the time that sources believed the former Chancellor would not stand for re-election at the next election and would instead return to banking.

However, a spokesperson for the MP told the Bromsgrove Standard last month that he ”plans to stand at the next election and looks forward to the campaign ahead”.

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