Former Brexit Secretary David Davis condemned for accepting £3,000-an-hour role with JCB
2 min read
David Davis has been criticised after it was revealed he has taken up a £3,000-an-hour job with a business owned by a billionaire Tory peer.
The former Brexit Secretary will be paid £60,000 for 20 hours' work as an "external advisor" to JCB, whose chairman is billionaire Lord Bamford.
Last year, he said there was "nothing to fear" from leaving the EU without a deal on World Trade Organisation terms.
Critics said it was "disgusting" for Mr Davis, who resigned as Brexit Secretary last summer, to accept such a well-paid role.
Details of the Tory MP's new role were revealed in his register of interests, which also showed that will receive £36,085 over the next six months as a board member of German manufacturing company Mansfeider Kupfer Und Messing GMBH.
Labour MP Ian Murray, of the pro-EU Best for Britain campaign, said: "Having failed to properly plan for Brexit and storming out of the Cabinet, it’s frankly disgusting that David Davis is now picking up around £3,000-per-hour in his second job with JCB.
"What an absolute insult to the people of the UK who have been left facing deeper austerity and increased living costs as a result of the calamitous Brexit he campaigned for and still supports.
"There are very real consequences of the decisions he made, and workers in the construction and manufacturing sectors will be among those to pay the price. He should be thoroughly ashamed, but the hardcore Brexiteers who lied to the people of Britain have no shame."
Jon Trickett MP, Labour’s shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, said: "What David Davis will get paid in 20 hours takes most people over two years to earn. But then again, under the Tories it’s one set of rules for the few and another for the many.
"Most people when reading this will no doubt think “snouts in the trough”, and this is exactly why Labour has repeatedly warned of the damage to the reputation of Parliament caused by arrangements like this and why they need to stop."
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