Jeremy Hunt’s public talking cash-in flops as he pockets 17% of Kwasi Kwarteng’s price

Jeremy Hunt’s bid to cash in on the public speaking circuit not been as lucrative as expected – earning just a sixth of his predecessor.

The former Chancellor – first hired by Liz Truss in a doomed bid to reset her premiership after the disastrous mini budget and kept on by Rishi Sunak – has declared his first speaking gig since leaving office.

He pocketed just £4,000 for a speech at the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts last month.

Yet his immediate predecessor, Kwasi Kwarteng, raked in £27,000 for a 30 minute speech to bankers in Switzerland.

Labour MP for Darlington, Lola McEvoy said: “That’s got to hurt. Jeremy Hunt was brought by Liz Truss to clean up the mess, and now it’s Kwasi Kwarteng cleaning up with his speeches.

“Mind you, these Tory Chancellors left taxpayers with a £22 billion black hole so I’m not sure what pearls of wisdom they have to share.”

She added: “Thankfully we now have a Labour Chancellor fixing the economy instead.”

Mr Kwarteng was architect of Ms Truss’ mini-budget – and was sacked after just 38 days in office.

His post-ministerial career as a public speaker took off in the following year. As well as the Swiss bankers speech, he was paid £8.500 for a Annual Institutional Investor UK & Ireland Summit, and £6,000 for a speech to Renewable UK.

Mr Kwarteng stepped down at July’s election – and so no longer has to declare his earnings to Parliament.

Mr Hunt, however, clung on to his seat and will have to declare any further payments.

He has signed up with Chartwell speakers, who have also represented Mr Kwarteng and Ms Truss.

Ms Truss raked in almost £250,000 from speaking gigs in the year after she left office – including a single £80,000 fee for a speech in Taipei in June 2023.