Labour leadership favourite Sir Keir Starmer earned £70k giving legal advice on top of MP pay
GRASPING Sir Keir Starmer has earned almost £70,000 giving legal advice on top of his MP’s pay.
The Labour leadership favourite has billed top law firms for 164 hours work — more than £400 per hour.
Ex-lawyer Sir Keir earned around £30,000 while working in Jeremy Corbyn’s top team on Brexit duties in late 2016. He was also getting an MP’s annual wage, currently £79,468.
Assignments have included advising the firm Corker Binning, who boast of “successful outcomes” for clients in bribery and corruption cases. They paid £6,678 last year after he worked 25 hours.
The ex-Director of Public Prosecutions also earned £7,060 in 2015 from Mishcon de Reya, whose solicitors represent companies and directors accused of fraud. Yet Mr Corbyn was adamant on strengthening the role of the National Crime Agency in their response to fraud.
Mr Starmer was paid hundreds of pounds by Birnberg Peirce, which represented terror suspects including Abu Qatada. The MP registered a £458 payment from the firm, which billed taxpayers for millions in high-profile cases. His paid work, uncovered in the MPs’ register, was for advice and representation shortly before he entered the Commons.
Mr Starmer registered the work six months after becoming an MP, but gave the advice in the build-up to winning Holborn and St Pancras in 2015. After losing the legal fight, hate preacher Abu Qatada was deported to Jordan where he was wanted on terror charges.
Birnberg Peirce also fought to halt the extradition of another hate preacher, Abu Hamza, to the United States.
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And Starmer earned £9,840 for 20 hours’ advice to Gibraltar as it tried to nobble Brexit.
He is the bookies’ favourite to become Labour leader.
Tory MP David Morris said: “This just shows how out of touch Sir Keir is from the people he seeks to represent.”
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