Pity the ambitious young Tory MP. The top jobs in Liz Truss’s government have been briefed and decided. Short of any huge upsets, the great offices of state have been filled, cutting off the possibility of significant advancement for some backbench Truss supporters. As they are left in the cold, standing outside the cabinet revolving door, the chance of becoming a household name and a significantly higher earner is vanishing. So too is the hope of the post-ministerial earnings that sometimes follow such high-profile gigs. But there are still positions for the prime minister to fill, lower rungs of the ministerial ladder that historically have opened doors to some interesting future jobs. And some are more lucrative than you might think. The Guardian has analysed more than 170 post-ministerial roles taken up by Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs since 2010 and calculated the financial potential of different ministerial ranks across Whitehall. The earnings were assessed using declarations by former ministers who remained MPs and published their outside income in the register of members’ interests, looking at jobs picked up in the two-year period after they left their role. MPs should not turn their nose up at the prospect of becoming a parliamentary undersecretary, the most junior of the ministerial roles in a department: after finishing their role these are paid a median of about £80,000, more than ministers of state (£50,250) and even secretaries of state (£77,000). If they are hoping their next role in government will be their last, they should not take a job in the Home Office, which has the lowest post-ministerial earnings of £5,000. The Department for Work and Pensions, likewise, is best avoided.
MPs would be well served telling Downing Street how they have long been passionate about culture, foreign affairs and transport, as jobs after minister of state roles here net a median of at least £150,000. Defence is a red herring: networking skills are better served at the Department for International Trade or the Ministry of Justice. If given a choice between education secretary and Northern Ireland secretary, they should head for Belfast: the post-ministerial median of £43,575 is seven times higher. Most importantly, they should remember that their successes (or not) in the department won’t matter too much. After all, the former transport secretary Chris Grayling received £200,000 in two years for advising a ports company, after awarding a ferry contract to a company with no ships. Former prime ministers make the most. The full scale of David Cameron’s earnings were not published, but Theresa May has collected more than £2.5m since leaving office. Next comes the chancellor. George Osborne’s several jobs dragged up the median to just over £2m. The third highest median is in the attorney general’s office. Geoffrey Cox’s sterling efforts representing the British Virgin Islands, in person and remotely, helped him make more than £1.7m, triple the income declared by Edward Garnier, the solicitor general until 2012. Boris Johnson’s time after being foreign secretary and before being prime minister has skewed the former role into appearing hugely profitable, thanks to a £275,000 contract with the Telegraph (for which he did not properly seek permission from the revolving door watchdog Acoba) and more than £450,000 in speeches. As Johnson heads off into the sunset and an anticipated surfeit of post-prime ministerial roles, he is proof that the job of foreign secretary is a great stepping stone.