Lucrative speaking circuit helps David Cameron bank £836,000 profit in a year

Former prime minister David Cameron netted a profit of £836,168 last year, according to new accounts filed with Companies House.

His Number 10 successor Theresa May has also benefited financially since resigning as prime minister in July, with Commons records showing she earned almost £400,000 through speaking engagements in December alone.

The Office of David Cameron Limited, the official name of the business which manages the ex-leader of the Conservative Party’s media and speaking appearances, shows that the organisation also had £538,075 cash in the bank and to hand.

The accounts – filed on Brexit day – only cover the 12 months to April 30 last year and therefore exclude any profits made from his memoir For the Record, which was published in September.

Mr Cameron is not a director of the business, according to Companies House, although he is listed as the owner.

Former political secretary Laurence Mann is the only director.

The business, which is based in North Lincolnshire near Samantha Cameron’s hometown, also employed seven staff, up from five in 2018.

It also made a property investment into a building worth £128,190, accounts said.

Since resigning as PM following the Brexit referendum and standing down as an MP shortly after, Mr Cameron has taken several positions in the private and charity sectors.

These include chairman of the advisory board of US artificial intelligence business Afiniti, president of Alzheimer’s Research UK and chairman of the National Citizen Service’s Board of Patrons.

Following his resignation, it was reported that the former prime minister could charge as much as £120,000 per speech.

Mrs May, meanwhile, has accepted work outside of her duties as an MP to bring in extra money, raking in at least £365,000 since December.

That was on top of being paid for giving speeches to investment banks, with £100,000 plus expenses coming her way from UBS Switzerland in Zurich and £75,000 earned after giving a talk at JP Morgan Chase in London.

The payments were made to the Office of Theresa May Limited where it would be “used to pay employees, maintain my ongoing involvement in public life and support my charitable work”, Mrs May said.

Mrs May, who stood down as PM after failing to pass her Brexit deal on three occasions, confirmed she consulted the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, the body that monitors additional jobs taken on by former ministers to ensure they do not represent a conflict of interest, about the
arrangements.

The money is on top of her £79,000 MP salary. She previously was paid £153,000 per year while serving as prime minister.