Conservative Barrister Geoffrey Cox Lambasted for Earning Millions in Outside Work as MPs Debate Second Jobs

Former Attorney General Sir Geoffrey Cox has been called out in the House of Commons for being allegedly “absent” because of his well-paid legal moonlighting, despite having been elected to serve his Devon constituents. 

Lib Dem MP Richard Foord told the Commons, in a rare singling-out of an MP, that between 2023 and 2024, Cox declared more than £836,000 of external earnings for 500 hours of work, “the equivalent of 66 full days” of work, while having contributed to just four debates in the whole of 2023. 

In the whole of the last 2019-2024 Parliament, Cox, who represents Tavistock, contributed to 20 debates in the Commons. Foord noted that included “a contribution to just one debate in 2020 and one debate in 2021, and there is no record of him having contributed to a debate in 18 months”. 

Foord called it an “egregious” example of MPs allegedly putting their outside interests ahead of their parliamentary work. 

“There are a tiny number of MPs who are really quite absent…It was revealed that, in 2021, [Cox] had earned more than £1 million in a single year, including by representing tax havens in the Caribbean. However, he was absent from parliamentary votes because of this outside work, and in one case even voted by proxy from 4,000 miles away,” he added. 

Cox has been contacted for comment but is yet to respond.

MPs agreed unanimously and without a vote, as an interim measure, that from October MPs would not be allowed to advise firms on public policy and current affairs, or offer paid advice about how Parliament works. They were “loopholes” that needed closing, new Commons leader Lucy Powell said.

The Commons also agreed to set up a Modernisation Committee, to examine ways to improve trust and “clean up” the political system.

MPs heard it will act as a “clearing house” to put recommendations from other committees into action and will look at introducing further measures to regulate members’ outside employment and second jobs. 

Other measures include potentially beefing up the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme, which governs complaints against MPs and parliamentary staff. 

It will also likely consider ways to make Parliament more family-friendly, improve HR practices, and enhance safety for MPs and staff, and look at how MPs vote, unsocial working hours, and other aspects of how the House functions.

Commons leader Lucy Powell rejected calls for the new Modernisation Committee, which she will chair, to include representatives of smaller parties like the SNP, Greens, and Reform UK. Instead it will be made up of Labour, Conservative, and Lib Dem members. 

Tom Brake, director of Unlock Democracy, told Byline Times that being an MP “isn’t a hobby” and they they are elected “first and foremost to represent their constituents, and secondly to hold the government to account”.

“It is hard to see how this is possible for MPs who spend so much time on extracurricular activities. We want to see a cap which would limit MPs extra earnings to half of a backbencher’s salary,” he added.

Labour MP says MPs earn a ‘fortune’

Labour left-winger Ian Lavery hit out at MPs taking second jobs in an impassioned intervention. 

The former miner insisted that is someone is elected as an MP with “70,000-odd constituents, that is a full-time job”. He continued: “I cannot understand how other people have been able to take up other jobs and occupations, and see being an MP as something that tops up their massive salary elsewhere, but that is what has happened and continues to happen.”

Lavery added that MPs getting second jobs allows the “perception and the narrative that MPs are selfish and greedy to continue”.

“When I was working at the pit, I never in a million years thought that I would be on a salary of £91,346. It is a fortune—an absolute fortune—and we have to work for it and for our constituents. The average UK salary is £35,828—in the north-east, where I live, it is under £30,000. So £91,346 is a fortune. We are paid fortunes, man.”

Campaign group Unlock Democracy has outlined a series of proposals aimed at addressing the issue. These include:

• An immediate end to MPs being paid parliamentary advisors, strategists or policy consultants (this will in large part be implemented from October).
• Publication of contracts for any outside employment, with appropriate privacy redactions.
• A cap on extra earnings at half an MP’s salary (approximately £45,000).
• A limit of 20 hours per week on time spent on outside interests.

Second Jobs and Modernisation Motions Agreed by MPs on Thursday 25 July

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Josiah Mortimer also writes the On the Ground column, exclusive to the print edition of Byline Times.

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