Labour shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer pockets £125,000 from law firm derailing Britain’s EU exit
Former Director of Public Prosecutions reveals he was paid up to £750 an hour by Mishcon de Reya
LABOUR shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer has pocketed £125,000 from one of the law firms that derailed Brexit – including £25,000 since he became MP.
Former Director of Public Prosecutions Starmer - who was also involved with a failed witchhunt of Sun journalists – has revealed he was paid up to £750 an hour by Mishcon de Reya.
Mishcon was one of three law firms that brought the legal challenge to Theresa May’s Brexit plans in the High Court this week.
Starmer, 54, was elected as a Labour MP for Holborn and St Pancras in May last year – a role which pays £75,000.
Between June and the end of September this year he was paid £18,000 by Mishcon de Reya for 24 hours of “legal advice” - a rate of £750 per hour.
Late last year he earned £7,000 offering legal advice to the law firm for 12 hours – or £583 an hour.
He also revealed a payment of £100,000 on May 13, 2015, for work carried out before he became an MP.
He lives in a £2million house in North London with solicitor wife Victoria, 43, and their two young children. He also co-owns a house in Surrey.
Mishcon de Reya first hired him in 2014 as a part-time consultant for its business crime unit.
He quit client work for the firm in April 2015, but was reappointed as a consultant to its in-house academy in June this year.
The MP stood down from that role after being appointed to the shadow cabinet last month.
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Starmer is the third key figure from the lacklustre £14.7m Operation Elveden witchhunt of Sun reporters to be employed by Mishcon de Reya.
His former principal legal adviser at the Crown Prosecution Service Alison Levitt and former Metropolitan police assistant commissioner Sue Akers – who headed the bungled investigation – have also done work for the firm.
This week Starmer refused to apologise after reporter Anthony France had his conviction overturned - meaning not one of 24 Sun journalists arrested were convicted.
A spokeswoman for the law firm said: “Keir Starmer was a consultant to the Mishcon Academy, our in-house centre for learning and development.
“The role did not involve client advice on any issue. Keir resigned as a consultant to the academy when he was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet.”
A spokesman for Starmer’s office said: “MPs are required to register and declare fees received since the May 2015 election even where those fees were earned before the election.
“The register makes it very clear that in the case of Keir Starmer, the vast majority of his declared earnings represent payment for work undertaken by him as a lawyer before he became MP.”