Many British parliamentarians earn more outside Parliament

At least 20 British lawmakers earned more than their basic parliamentary salary of just over 65,000 pounds, with former Prime Minister Gordon Brown topping the list with earnings of over 1.3 million pounds last year.
British MPs have declared earnings of more than 7 million pounds from outside jobs and directorships over the last session of parliament.
Under British parliamentary rules, a Member of Parliament (MP) is allowed to engage in outside work, including taking on company directorship, working as a consultant, acting as a barrister or simply giving speeches or writing books - provided that all income is declared in official registers, and no work relates to lobbying parliament.

According to an analysis by the Guardian, 20 MPs made more money from their outside jobs than they did from their parliamentary salary of 65,738 pounds, with some spending more than 1,000 hours on outside employment.
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown earned more than 1.37 million pounds from giving speeches around the world. Brown said the income supported an office that he uses to "support my ongoing involvement in public life", with 600,000 pounds going to charity and none of the money to him personally.
A Conservative MP, Stephen Phillips, made more than 700,000 pounds, whereas his party-mate Geoffrey Cox made 300,000 pounds, both working as barristers.

Phillips said his outside work benefited his constituents by keeping a connection with the "real world".

Former Labour ministers Alistair Darling and Jack Straw made more than 260,000 and 180,000 pounds respectively. Straw said that his work as an MP allowed ample time for outside work, which was mainly a mixture of speaking engagements and writing.
Almost 300 lawmakers declared some earnings outside parliament in the last session. About 50 were directors of private companies.
Last year, the independent watchdog on parliamentary pay set out initial proposals suggesting MPs could have their pay docked for taking on second jobs, such as consultancy.

However, it is unlikely to go ahead with this recommendation when it makes a final decision this year.
Instead, MPs are expected to be in line for a pay rise of 10,000 to 20,000 pounds.