Great Yarmouth MP under fire for taking job with Russia-linked firm

A Norfolk MP has been accused of having brought “shame” on his constituency after taking a seventh job advising a company partly owned by two sanctioned Russian oligarchs.

Sir Brandon Lewis, the MP for Great Yarmouth, is set to join investment firm LetterOne as a senior adviser, the latest in a string of lucrative roles for the politician.

The company was founded by billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven who were placed on the UK’s sanctions list following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

While LetterOne has restructured itself to comply with sanctions, the businessmen still own 49pc of the shares.

This is not the first time Sir Lewis’ ties to Russian oligarchs have raised eyebrows, with some high-profile donors bankrolling him in recent years.

Labour has hit out at Mr Lewis over the latest role.

Keir Cozens, Labour’s candidate for Great Yarmouth said: “Brandon Lewis has proved once again that he has no shame.

“He has long been bankrolled by Russian money and now adds his seventh part-time job at a company set up and still partly owned by two sanctioned Russian oligarchs.

“To be taking this money at a time of war, when our own country continues to stand proudly with Ukraine, is indefensible.

“Any other MP would have resigned long ago. His contempt for our constituency and the people who live here can no longer be tolerated.

“Every day Brandon Lewis clings to office, all he does is bring further shame and neglect. Great Yarmouth deserves better.”

Sir Lewis has been contacted for comment.

The latest role is expected to earn the former government cabinet member in the “low hundreds of thousands of pounds”, but his exact pay has not been revealed.

Sir Lewis already holds three paid jobs, earning him £150,000 in addition to the £86,584 he gets for being an MP.

In comparison, prime minister Rishi Sunak is entitled to claim around £167,391 each year for being prime minister.

The roles include two £60,000-a-year gigs with property developer Thakeham Homes and infrastructure firm FM Conway. For each of those companies he works eight hours per month.

He also makes £30,000 a year as a consultant for Civitas Investment Management. This is for four hours work each month.

In addition, he is a director of Woodland Schools, a private schools group based more than 100 miles away from his Great Yarmouth, for which he waived payment but receives the use of a company car valued at £10,000.

Sir Brandon has also become an unpaid patron of the right-wing Adam Smith Institute, which has previously criticised a crackdown on MP’s second jobs.

The number of jobs Sir Lewis has accepted may sting for locals in Great Yarmouth, with around 2,000 people aged 16 and over unemployed in March this year – a rate of 4.8pc.

Donations to Sir Lewis have been criticised in the past, with him receiving almost £50,000 from Russian oligarchs between 2014 and 2022.

The money came from Lubov Chernukhin and Alexander Temerko, who are both now British citizens.

Ms Cherukhin has Russian parents and Ukrainian-born Temerko lived and worked in Russia before fleeing the country in 2004.

There is no suggestion of impropriety relating to the donations.

The appointment to LetterOne has been cleared by the government’s independent Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, which vets job applications by former ministers to avoid conflicts of interest.

Talking to the Financial Times about the second job, Sir Lewis said: “LetterOne has travelled a huge distance since Putin’s abhorrent invasion of Ukraine.

“It is now fully separate from its sanctioned founders and focused on investments that are vital for society as well as being one of the biggest corporate donors of aid to Ukraine.”