Lee Anderson to be paid £100k a year to host GB News show

Lee Anderson, the Conservative deputy chairman, has revealed he will be paid £100,000 a year for hosting a show on GB News.

The annual fee for the eight hours of work a week was declared in an update to the MPs' register of interests published on Wednesday.

It is a significant increase on the £200 weekly payment he received for appearing as a regular on Dan Wootton's show.

The controversial MP for Ashfield, in Nottinghamshire, became the fifth Tory MP to host a GB News show when his deal with the channel was announced on March 7.

It comes just months after he made comments on Facebook about MPs who "top up" their "handsome" salaries with £100,000 a year.

He wrote online in the wake of the Owen Patterson lobbying scandal: "There should be no place in politics for MPs to make financial gain from private companies in return for lobbying.

'Handsome salaries'

"We are paid handsomely for the job we do and if you need an extra £100,000 a year on top then you should really be looking for another job.

"Do I think Owen Paterson should have been suspended? Yes I do but I did not vote to stop the suspension, I voted to allow him the right to appeal a decision made against him."

He joins fellow Conservatives Jacob Rees-Mogg, Esther McVey and Philip Davies, who all currently host shows. Bishop Auckland MP Dehenna Davison previously hosted a show but left when she was made a levelling up minister.

Mr Anderson's £100,000 fee makes him the highest earning of that group so far, receiving almost double the £58,650 which Ms McVey received in 2022. Her husband and co-host, Mr Davies, received £46,203 in the same year.

Mr Rees-Mogg is yet to disclose how much he is being paid by the channel.

'I'm joining the people's channel'

Announcing his decision to join GB News, Mr Anderson previously said: "GB News is the true voice of the great British silent majority. I'm joining the people's channel to ensure their voice is heard."

The MP has proved controversial since his election in 2019, calling for the return of the death penalty and claiming people on Universal Credit were not in poverty.

Wednesday's update to the MPs' register of interests also included another £527,000 in speaking fees for Boris Johnson from the first two weeks of March.

The former prime minister received £261,596 from London-based consultants Brand Finance PLC and £266,031 from American law firm Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check.

Some £369,605 of that total has been deducted from a £2.5 million advance the former prime minister received from speaking agency Harry Walker Agency in January.

Mr Johnson also declared an advance of £42,500 from Hodder and Stoughton for a book, reported to be his memoirs of his time in Downing Street.

Several other MPs declared new second jobs, including former cabinet minister Sajid Javid, who will be paid £300,000 a year for advising Jersey-based investment firm Centricus Partners for between eight and 10 hours a month.

Another former minister, Sir Gavin Williamson, will receive £50,000 a year as an advisor to education provider RTC Education and former justice secretary Sir Robert Buckland will be paid £48,000 a year as senior counsel to solicitors Payne Hicks Beach.

Rachel Reeves, the Shadow chancellor, has received an advance of £8,200 from Hodder and Stoughton for her book on "The Women Who Made Modern Economics".

Lee Anderson was contacted for comment.