Angela Rayner pocketed £180,000 from second jobs during her year out of Cabinet
Angela Rayner earned more than £180,000 during her “year off” from Cabinet, The Telegraph can reveal.
As reported by The Telegraph, the Housing Secretary received £182,376 from second jobs, including corporate speaking engagements and a book advance, as well as a £16,876 ministerial exit payment after resigning last autumn.
Ms Rayner resigned as Housing Minister after The Telegraph revealed she had dodged a £40,000 stamp duty bill on the purchase of her second home in Hove, East Sussex. She was reappointed to her old job by Andy Burnham and has refused to repay the severance payment.
The MPs’ financial interests logs show that since September, Ms Rayner earned £104,000 from speaking fees, £61,500 for an advance on a book and just less than £17,000 in the severance payment.
Her most lucrative speeches included a £19,000 engagement with the Management Consultancies Association and a £20,000 speech for Deutsche Bank, which was accompanied by a £1,000 hotel room and a £250 dinner.
Another job pocketed her £20,000 for a two-hour speaking engagement with Propertymark, a trade body for the property sector.
This came on top of the basic annual salary of an MP, which rose from £93,904 to £98,599 in April 2026.
Lee Anderson, the Reform UK chairman, said: “Angela Rayner has had an extremely profitable year off. Being forced to resign in disgrace over your tax affairs turns out to be a good little earner.
“Now she’s waltzed straight back into her old job in government just 10 months after resigning; it’s about time she handed back her hefty severance payment. Taxpayer cash shouldn’t be wasted on subsidising Labour’s political psychodramas.”
Since her resignation, Ms Rayner has largely avoided the intense internal drama which eventually led to Sir Keir Starmer resigning as prime minister, making way for Mr Burnham to take over.
Ms Rayner did not respond to a request for comment.
The Housing Secretary has previously criticised MPs having second jobs as “beyond shameful”.
In a social media post in March 2023, Ms Rayner wrote: “Being an MP isn’t a second job. It is the job. Labour will put an end to this racket.”
When questioned earlier this week on whether she would return her £16,876 exit payment, she told BBC Radio 5 Live: “No, my severance payment was given to me at the time, I had worked in government for a period of time and then I came out of government for just under a year.”
Wes Streeting, who also returned to a government position on Monday as Defence Secretary, will not receive a salary for his first three months in the post, according to HuffPost UK, having received the same three-month salary exit payment as Ms Rayner.
Joanna Marchong, of Onward, a think tank, said: “Rayner built her brand on attacking ‘Tory sleaze,’ railing against second jobs and demanding a ban on MPs’ outside consultancy work. Yet within months of resigning over her own tax affairs, she’d pocketed £180,000. Including £20,000 for just two hours’ work for a property lobby group, weeks before being handed back the housing brief.”
According to the list of her financial interests, Ms Rayner opted to give £15,000 of the £104,000 she earned from 15.45 hours of speeches to charity.
The Housing Secretary’s memoir, for which she pulled in a £61,500 advance, is expected to be published later this year and will detail her life story from leaving school at 16 to becoming deputy prime minister, before her fall from grace.
Last year, a Telegraph investigation revealed that Ms Rayner had failed to obtain expert tax advice on the purchase of her south coast property, which resulted in the breach of the ministerial code and, subsequently, her resignation as housing secretary and deputy Labour leader.
One law firm had told her to seek expert advice on the taxes she had to pay, but she did not.
Mr Burnham opted to reappoint Ms Rayner to her previous cabinet position earlier this week, after she settled her tax bill with HMRC.
Ms Rayner was cleared to join Chartwell Speakers Bureau earlier this year by Sir Keir’s ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus. The speaking organisation’s roster includes other politicians such as Jeremy Hunt and Liz Truss.
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