Great Yarmouth MP Brandon Lewis to earn £250,000 by working one day a week in extra job

An MP will earn a quarter of a million pounds a year by working just one day a week in a new advisory role.

Sir Brandon Lewis, the Conservative MP for Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, is to become one of the highest-paid MPs by advising a company partly owned by two sanctioned Russian oligarchs.

Becoming a senior adviser for investment firm LetterOne is the latest highly-paid role Sir Brandon has taken in recent months, with his total of seven jobs earning him almost £500,000.

His LetterOne role has already proved controversial because of the involvement of Russians placed on the UK’s sanctions list following the invasion of Ukraine.

The new figures have emerged in an update to the MP’s register of interest.

Sir Brandon’s seven paid and unpaid jobs include his role as an MP, for which he receives £86,584.

He earns £150,000 from three other positions and in total he receives £486,584 - over £300,000 more than the salary of prime minister Rishi Sunak.

Sir Brandon’s Yarmouth constituency includes some of Norfolk's most deprived areas, with March figures showing the town had around 2,000 people aged 16 and over who were unemployed.

Labour candidate Keir Cozens, who is standing against Sir Brandon for Labour at the next election, said: “It boils down to this: Can we really trust a man who has spent the last year lining his own pockets to the tune of £400,000 to be on our side?

“My priorities are clear – no second jobs outside parliament, no distractions, just full-time commitment to Great Yarmouth."

LetterOne was founded by billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven who were placed on the UK’s sanctions list following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The pair still own 49% of the company's shares.

Between 2014 and 2022, Sir Brandon received almost £50,000 from Russian oligarchs, but there is no suggestion of impropriety relating to the donations.

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