Ex-minister blames mortgage hike for his quitting UK government post

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Former UK science minister George Freeman has blamed an impending soar in the price of his mortgage for his resolution to stop the position and warned politics was turning into an unaffordable profession.

Freeman, who stepped down final November throughout a reshuffle by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, mentioned in a Substack weblog he couldn’t afford his mortgage going as much as £2,000 a month on his earlier ministerial wage of £118,300. 

The MP for Mid Norfolk defined his rationale for resigning: “As a result of my mortgage rises this month from £800 [per calendar month] to £2,000, which I merely couldn’t afford to pay on a ministerial wage. That’s political financial system 2.0.”

Backbench MPs are paid £86,584 a yr however, in contrast to ministers, they will make extra cash from exterior pursuits together with company advisory roles, journalism or legislation. 

Sir Brandon Lewis, former chair of the Conservative occasion, has accumulated 5 roles with a mixed wage price almost £500,000 a yr on prime of his job as an MP since he stop the cupboard. Lewis’s most controversial job is advising LetterOne, an organization 49 per cent owned by two sanctioned Russian oligarchs. 

Boris Johnson made £4.8mn on prime of his wage as a backbencher within the six months after he was pressured out of workplace as prime minister. 

We’re at risk of creating politics one thing solely hedge fund donors, younger spin-doctors and failed commerce unionists can afford to do

Though critics questioned how Freeman could possibly be struggling to afford a £2,000 mortgage on a wage of almost £120,000, the Tory MP informed The New Statesman on Monday that his funds have been “not what they have been” after “a really painful divorce”.

Freeman was left disenchanted by the November reshuffle, having been rejected for a cupboard position which may have delivered an additional £36,000 of pay.

Freeman’s travails echo those facing millions of homeowners throughout Britain as they arrive off fixed-rate offers into an atmosphere of a lot greater rates of interest. Rising charges have been pushed by excessive inflation attributable to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, though the Tory authorities’s “mini-Finances” in September 2022 additionally exacerbated the issue. 

Having labored in life sciences and expertise earlier than coming into parliament — and having spent years within the roles of life sciences, transport and science — Freeman is well-placed to safe exterior work. 

“We’re at risk of creating politics one thing solely hedge fund donors, younger spin-doctors and failed commerce unionists can afford to do,” he mentioned.

Freeman, who has a majority of twenty-two,594 from the 2019 election, has not but clarified whether or not he’ll search re-election.