Ex-PM Theresa May gets £2m for speeches, including £1m for just 70 hours of work

Theresa May has raked in over £2million from lucrative speeches since leaving No10 – including £1m for 70 hours’ work.

But bungling Liz Truss ’s chance of emulating her fellow ex-Prime Minister’s massive payday is remote, say experts.

They think her only chance of being booked is if she gives a warts-and-all account of how she crashed the economy and spiked mortgage rates during her six weeks as leader.

All living ex-PMs, with the exception of Boris Johnson, are available as speakers with the organisation Washington Speakers Bureau. Last month, disgraced Mr Johnson earned £315,000 for a speech and “fireside chat” at an insurance brokers’ conference in Colorado.

But Ms Truss is unlikely to command anything like that.

Jeremy Lee, founder of JLA, the UK’s biggest speaking agency, said: “I don’t think there’ll be much ­demand in this country. There may be a scintilla of interest in America – but I’m doubtful. US institutions love to hear from speakers who have been a success.

“One wonders what would happen if you asked people to buy tickets to come and see her. I don’t think they would. Maybe they’d go for the wrong reasons and hurl bread rolls and soft fruit at her.”

Labour MP Justin Madders added: “Liz Truss has got as much chance of replacing Ronaldo at Manchester United as she has of getting lucrative post-PM earnings.”

David Cameron ’s self-named company returned a profit of £836,168 in the year ending April 30, 2019, up from the £790,274 made the year before. And Mrs May has clawed in £1m this year for 70 hours of work. Her latest big cheque came a month ago, when she charged £97,000 for a five-hour speaking event in New York – taking her cash total to £984,000.

All the payments are made to Mrs May’s self-named company, from which she takes home £85,000 a year. The remainder, according to her declaration, pays staff, maintains her involvement in public life and supports her charitable work.

Lib Dem Treasury spokeswoman Sarah Olney said: “The legacy of recent Tory ministers and PMs is a broken economy, higher taxes, crumbling services and falling living standards. Perhaps the best advice ex-ministers can give is how people can protect ­themselves from Conservative mismanagement and incompetence.”