Sajid Javid paid 50 times average weekly wage to give 2-hour speech to senior HSBC bankers

A senior Conservative MP was paid almost 50 times what the average worker earns in a week for delivering a speech last month.

Sajid Javid was paid to give a speech to senior staff at HSBC bank on 1 September, according to the register of members’ financial interests.

Javid stepped down as health secretary earlier this year and has not taken up a role in Truss’ government, amid rumours he is preparing to return to banking, the industry he worked in before entering politics.

Javid, whose resignation in July was one of the triggers for the downfall of Johnson’s premiership, did not attend the party conference this week and has maintained a low-profile since backing Liz Truss for leader in August.

A spokesperson for Javid said he does not intend to leave parliament.

£15,000 per hour

Javid was paid £30,000 to deliver the speech, which took just two hours including preparation time, meaning his hourly rate was £15,000.

The Conservative leadership hopeful earns £84,144 per year as a backbench MP, though was earning an additional £67,000 per year until July when he left cabinet.

The MP for Bromsgrove will have been entitled to a £17,000 payout after resigning from Boris Johnson’s government.

Average weekly earnings were estimated at £613 for total pay and £571 for regular pay in July 2022, according to the ONS.

While several MPs have been paid large sums for speaking arrangements, Javid earned more for his speech than any other MP this year other than former prime minister Theresa May.

Javid had a lucrative career in banking before entering Parliament, as a senior executive at Deutsche Bank.

As a former holder of two of the four great offices of state, having served as Home Secretary and Chancellor, Javid is among the most senior Conservatives on the backbenches.

Javid resigned as Chancellor in February 2020 after reportedly clashing with Johnson’s then-key adviser Dominic Cummings. This will also have entitled him to a payout worth £17,000.

He later 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 that he ”plans to stand at the next election and looks forward to the campaign ahead”.