Birmingham MP John Hemming is one of Parliament’s top earners from outside income - with an extra £187,000 from his private business.

He appears tenth on the list of top earning MPs at a time when politicians’ outside income is under the spotlight following the resignation of former Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind.

Tory Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Labour’s Jack Straw were caught in a ‘cash for access’ sting by Channel 4 - although both deny any wrongdoing.

Mr Hemming, the Lib Dem MP for Yardley, makes most of his money as chairman of John Hemming And Company, the software firm he founded before going into politics. He says he works less than four hours a month.

Other income from completing Parliamentary Panel Surveys, his music performances and record label is donated to charity.

But he highlighted the fact he claims no expenses and travels to and from London on saver return rail tickets.

“My income is from the company I set up when I was 23. I am a full-time MP, I am also the cheapest MP in Birmingham on expenses.”

Andrew Mitchell
Andrew Mitchell

Also high on the list is Tory MP for Sutton Coldfield Andrew Mitchell with outside income totalling £133,430 from his work as a business consultant with a range of firms including banking specialist Investec – ten days a year – and Midlands-based East End Foods – for eight days a year.

In total entries on the current register add up to £7.7 million for all MPs of which £228,000 covers expenses like travel and accommodation. This includes £5.7 million for other regular jobs, £1.3 million for things like giving speeches at private events and £323,044 for appearing on TV and radio shows.

Gordon Brown has declared the most extra-curricular earnings for any MP at £1.07 million plus an extra £173,000 in travel and accommodation ex-penses.

This includes payments received in his roles as Distinguished Global Leader in Residence at New York University and chairman of the World Economic Forum Policy Co-ordination Group – although his entry on the MPs’ register stresses that he is not paid personally, the money going to support his ‘ongoing involvement in public life’.

Among the big earners from TV work are Tory MP Nadine Dorries, whose appearance on I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here earned her £20,000.

Of the 650 MPs in the House of Commons, 229 declared some extra earnings. Of these, 126 were Conservatives, 78 were Labour and 19 were Liberal Democrats. Out of these major parties Conservative MPs earned the most on average with £38,147, Labour MPs earned an average of £28,050 and Lib Dems earned far less with an average of £12,258.