They’re earning shed loads! Ex-PMs David Cameron and Theresa May rake in hundreds of thousands of pounds for media appearances after leaving office - and Boris Johnson is not doing too badly either

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Former prime minister David Cameron sitting on the steps of a luxury cabin he has had installed in his Cotswolds garden in 2017

David Cameron and Theresa May have raked in six-figure sums in the last year, according to official documents released today that show the astonishing earning prowess of ex-prime ministers.

Mr Cameron may have earned £150,000 a year before quitting over his failure to see off Brexit, but that was small fry compared to his current income.

The Office of David Cameron Limited made a profit of £836,168 last year, according to new accounts filed with Companies House. 

And that figure is for the year to last April, so it does not include income from his memoir, For The Record, which came out in September after famously being written in a £25,000 cabin he bought for his Oxfordshire home in 2017. 

And despite being out of No 10 for just six months, Mrs May has topped up her £77,000 backbenchers salary with almost £400,000 in external earnings.

The Register of Members interest today revealed she was paid a signing-on bonus of £190,000 to join the prestigious Washington Speakers Bureau in the US capital.

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Despite being out of No 10 for just six months, Mrs May has topped up her £77,000 backbenchers salary with almost £400,000 in external earnings
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Mr Cameron's autobiography was released in September last year and gained much coverage and serialisation
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The register showed that Boris Johnson made £320,000 in the months before he became Prime Minister from speeches, newspaper columns and political donations

She also received undisclosed sums for speeches set up through the after-dinner speaking firm. 


Boris rakes in the cash before becoming PM 

It was not just ex-prime ministers enjoying a bumper time.

The register of members interests showed that Boris Johnson made £320,000 in the months before he became Prime Minister from speeches, newspaper columns and political donations.

He made £22,916 a month for a weekly column in the Daily Telegraph and charged India Today newspaper £683 a minute for a March speech in Delhi.

Between January and July he received £72,000 from JCB, owned by Tory donor Lord Bamford.

And in June he received £100,000 from Jonathan Moynihan, a backer of the Vote Leave campaign. 


As well as that she was paid £100,000 for a speech to the Swiss bank UBS in Zurich, the day after the general election in December.

The register also showed she was expecting to be paid £75,000 for a November speech to JP Morgan Chase in London in November. 

Details from the accounts of Mr Cameron;'s firm show the organisation also had £538,075 cash reserves. 

It came as the ex-prime minister today insisted he believes the UK will be able to make a success of Brexit as he hailed the 'very big day' for Britain.  

The UK will split from Brussels at 11pm this evening after more than three years of tortuous wrangling over the terms of Britain's divorce. 

It will likely represent a moment of sadness for Mr Cameron given that he unsuccessfully led the campaign to keep the UK in the bloc at the 2016 EU referendum which he decided to call.

He quit as Prime Minister after his Remain side was defeated by Leave, and this morning he said he 'knew this day would come' eventually despite repeated Brexit delays. 

Mr Cameron is not a director of the business, according to Companies House, although he is listed as the owner.

His former political secretary Laurence Mann is the only director.

The business, which is based in North Lincolnshire near Samantha Cameron's hometown, also employed seven staff, up from five in 2018.

It also made a property investment into a building worth £128,190, accounts said.

Since resigning as PM following the Brexit referendum and standing down as an MP shortly after, Mr Cameron has taken several positions in the private and charity sectors.

These include chairman of the advisory board of US artificial intelligence business Afiniti, president of Alzheimer's Research UK and chairman of the National Citizen Service's Board of Patrons.

Following his resignation, it was reported that the former prime minister could charge as much as £120,000 per speech.