Boris Johnson received most in donations of this parliament after single contribution of £1m
Boris Johnson has become the number one most donated to MP this parliament after receiving a single donation of one million pounds.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer had previously been the most donated to MP with £740,000 in multiple donations, Sky News’ Westminster Accounts tool showed.
But the money from Brexiteer and crypto investor Christopher Harborne beat that in a single donation.
Mr Harborne is a former Tory donor who in 2019 was the bankroller of Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party.
Money from political donations is used to fund things like campaigning, staff, and office costs.
It can also be used to support former prime ministers in public life following their premiership.
Mr Johnson’s 7,210 majority in his west London constituency means he is vulnerable to being unseated by Labour, and allies have claimed he could strike a deal with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak not to challenge his leadership in exchange for a safe seat at the next election.
But it is understood that the large single donation is not towards Mr Johnson’s personal funds and is unrelated to any comeback plan.
The register of members’ financial interests is where all MPs must declare any donations, wages or gifts.
Mr Johnson also earned £303,880 in speeches in December, according to updates to the register published on Thursday night.
He earned over a quarter of a million – £253,880,90 – from software company ParallelChain Lab for a nine-hour event in Singapore, and £50,000 from property development company the Ballymore Group for a seven-hour speaking engagement in London.
This comes on top of the £1m Mr Johnson has already declared in outside earnings for a handful of speeches since officially stepping down as prime minister in September.
Since then, the former PM has also lived rent free in the home of JCB chairman and Conservative donor Lord Bamford, the register of interest shows.
Search for your MP using the Westminster Accounts tool
The updates follow the launch this week of Westminster Accounts, a joint project between Sky News and Tortoise Media which aims to shine a light on money in politics.
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SNP calls for donations reforms
The new database brings together MPs’ second jobs and donations – the first time they have all been collated in one place.
According to our latest analysis of the donations, Boris Johnson now tops the leader board of the most donated to MP, followed by Sir Keir Starmer and Mr Johnson’s short-lived successor Liz Truss.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak comes fourth, followed by Labour MP Rebecca Long-Bailey, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Housing Secretary Michael Gove.
MPs donations
Outside earnings
The database has led to calls for greater transparency of where MPs get their political donations from, after our initial investigation struggled to uncover basic details about who is behind major donations.
It has also thrust the issue of MPs second jobs back into the spotlight.
There have been calls for the rules to be tightened on outside earnings since the Owen Patterson lobbying scandal, which saw Tory MPs attempt to save a colleague who broke lobbing rules from punishment.
All MPs are paid a base salary of £84,144, while prime ministers get an additional £79,936 for a total of £164,080.
However, MPs are allowed to earn extra money through second jobs.
While the vast majority of top earners are Tory MPs, David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, has also made over £200,000 from outside earnings this parliament.
The updated register reveals income from speeches since November 16 of £32,300 and nearly £5,000 for six radio shows on LBC.
Sir Keir Starmer – who has backed a ban on second jobs with some exceptions – has defended Mr Lammy, suggesting media work is “part of the political process”.
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Keir Starmer defends David Lammy
Some changes into what second jobs MPs can have are due to come into effect later this year, with MPs to be banned from taking on work as political or parliamentary consultants from March.
One source involved in drafting the new rules suggested this could impact the second jobs of around 30 MPs.
But they will not prevent others from earning significant amounts for speeches, TV appearances and legal work.
Read more:
Boris Johnson’s large extra earnings criticised at PMQs
Westminster Accounts: 14 MPs given over £250,000 each in campaign donations since the last election
Rishi Sunak says ‘transparency really important’ as focus turns to MPs’ second jobs
Mr Johnson’s predecessor Theresa May, who stepped down in 2019, has a lengthy list of speaking engagements, including £408,200 for six talks in California, as well as flights and accommodation for her and a member of staff.
A speech she gave to the World Travel and Tourism Council in November 2022 earnt her £107,600.
Her entry in the register of members’ interests makes no mention of the fact this £107,600 speech was delivered in Saudi Arabia – a country she blocked ministers and officials from visiting for a period while she was prime minister following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Mrs May has said the money she earns goes into a company called the Office of Theresa May Limited, from which she pays herself £85,000 a year and the rest goes to support her charitable work and her staff.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said there is a “good chance” to end the war with Russia.
The embattled Ukrainian president was speaking after he accepted a proposal for a 30-day interim ceasefire and Vladimir Putin stuck to his red lines on needing certain conditions to be met.
“Right now, we have a good chance to end this war quickly and secure peace. We have solid security understandings with our European partners,” Mr Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
“We are now close to the first step in ending any war – silence,” he said, referring to a truce.
Vladimir Putin. Pic: Reuters
He later urged the US and other allies to place further pressure on Moscow and reiterated his belief Mr Putin will delay the ceasefire for as long as possible.
“If there is a strong response from the United States, they will not let them play around. And if there are steps that Russia is not afraid of, they will delay the process,” he said.
Mr Zelenskyy said a ceasefire along the more than 1,000km (600-mile) frontline could be controlled with US help through satellites and intelligence – earlier this week Washington resumed intelligence sharing and military aid after Ukraine accepted the ceasefire.
Mr Zelenskyy also said officials at a meeting between US and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia this week discussed the issue of territory, but a difficult dialogue would be required to resolve it.
“The issue of territories is the most difficult after the ceasefire,” Mr Zelenskyy said.
It comes as Donald Trump said he sees “pretty good vibes coming out of Russia”, and he thinks Moscow will make a deal on the war.
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Ukraine has ‘agreed to ceasefire’
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 has left thousands dead and injured, with millions displaced and towns and cities destroyed.
After three years of war Moscow’s forces now control nearly a fifth of Ukrainian territory and have been advancing since the middle of last year.
“The ceasefire unblocks the way for the sides to end the war. And the territories… will be the point that makes it
possible to end the war after this issue is resolved,” Mr Zelenskyy said.
The Kremlin has demanded Kyiv permanently cede the territory it has claimed.
Mr Zelenskyy also said he was discussing future security guarantees and economic support with Kyiv’s allies, saying 100% air defence cover would be required as deterrence in a peace deal.
Meanwhile, Mr Putin met with US envoy Steve Witkoff to discuss the details of the proposal and has asked him to convey Moscow’s thoughts to Washington, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
It comes ahead of a video call between Sir Keir Starmer and around 25 world leaders on Saturday, in which he will urge them to make concrete commitments to support Ukraine and increase pressure on Mr Putin to accept a ceasefire.
World
Former president of Philippines Rodrigo Duterte appears in court accused of running death squads
Rodrigo Duterte, the former president of the Philippines, has appeared at the International Criminal Court, accused of crimes against humanity.
The 79-year-old appeared in the Netherlands via video link on Friday.
His lawyer said he was suffering from “debilitating medical issues” but the judge in The Hague, Iulia Motoc, said the court doctor had found him to be “fully mentally aware and fit”.
She said he was allowed to appear remotely because he had taken a long flight.
Wearing a jacket and tie, Duterte spoke briefly to confirm his name and date of birth.
He was read his rights and formally informed of the charges. His supporters contest his arrest and say the court does not have jurisdiction.
If convicted, he faces life in prison.
His daughter Sara Duterte, the current vice president of the Philippines, said she was hoping to visit her father and have the hearing moved after meeting supporters outside the court.
Back home in the Philippine capital region, large screens were set up to allow families of suspects killed in the crackdowns to watch the proceedings.
Police protested over the killings when Mr Duterte was still in charge in 2021. Pic: AP
Prosecutors accuse Duterte of forming and arming death squads said to have killed thousands of drug dealers and users during a brutal crackdown on illegal drugs.
Police say more than 6,200 people were killed in what they describe as shootouts while he was president from 2016 to 2022.
They claim he was an “indirect co-perpetrator” in multiple murders, allegedly overseeing killings between November 2011 and March 2019.
Before becoming president, Duterte was the mayor of the southern city of Davao.
According to the prosecution, he issued orders to police and other “hitmen” who formed the so-called “Davao Death Squads” or DDS.
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Why was Duterte arrested?
Estimates of the death toll during his six-year presidential term vary, from more than 6,000 reported by national police, to 30,000 claimed by human rights groups.
The warrant for his arrest said there were “reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Duterte bears criminal responsibility for the crime against humanity of murder”.
Duterte has said he takes full responsibility for the “war on drugs”.
He was arrested on Tuesday amid chaotic scenes in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, after returning from a visit to Hong Kong.
He told officers “you have to kill me to bring me to The Hague” during a 12-hour standoff, a Philippine police general said.
He also refused to have his fingerprints taken and threatened Police Major General Nicolas Torre with lawsuits before he was bundled onto a government-chartered jet at a Philippine air base and taken to The Hague, Maj Gen Torre told the Associated Press.
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Steve Witkoff didn’t stay long in the Russian capital.
According to footage posted of his motorcade leaving and returning to Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, he was here for little more than 12 hours.
And for most of that, it seems, he was left waiting.
Trump’s fixer leaves Moscow – peace talks latest
US special envoy Steve Witkoff talking to reporters at the White House. Pic: AP
Mr Witkoff, a former property mogul who has become Donald Trump’s chief negotiator, and is often referred to as the president’s ‘fixer’, had been dispatched to Moscow to deliver the US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire to Vladimir Putin.
His visit had been scheduled near the start of the week, following the US-Ukraine talks in Saudi Arabia.
But after arriving around lunchtime on Thursday, he was left twiddling his thumbs for at least eight hours before being called into the Kremlin.
Mr Putin was apparently too busy meeting someone else – Belarusian leader Aleksander Lukashenko – for a hastily arranged state visit that had been announced the day before.
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Is a ceasefire in Ukraine still viable?
Was ally’s visit a classic Putin power play?
We don’t know for sure if the timing of Mr Lukashenko’s visit was deliberate, but it certainly didn’t feel like a coincidence.
Instead, it felt like a classic Putin power play.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko. Pic: Reuters
The Kremlin leader doesn’t like to be backed into a corner and told what to do, especially on his own turf.
This felt like a message to the Americans – “I’m the boss, I set the schedule, and I’m not beholden to anyone”.
He did eventually grant Mr Witkoff that all-important face time, once night had fallen and behind closed-doors.
We don’t know how long they spoke for, nor the exact details of their discussion, but I think we can make a pretty good guess given Mr Putin’s comments earlier in the evening.
At a press conference alongside Mr Lukashenko, he made it abundantly clear that he’ll only sign up to a ceasefire if he gets something in return.
And it’s not just one thing he wants.
All Russia’s red lines remain
By the sounds of things, he still wants everything.
His comment regarding the “root causes” of the conflict suggests all of Russia’s red lines remain – no NATO membership for Ukraine, no NATO troops as peacekeepers, and for Russia to keep all the territory it has seized.
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According to Russian media outlet Radio Mayak, Mr Putin’s meetings in the Kremlin finished at 1.30am.
Around half an hour later, Mr Witkoff was back at the airport – leaving Russia, it seems – not with Mr Putin’s agreement but with a list of demands.
It’s now up to Mr Trump to decide what to do next.
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