The 10 richest Tories in the shadow cabinet
There has been mounting speculation in recent months about the personal wealth of the leading figures in the Conservative Party. Interest has heightened after the Tories announced that they would implement an austerity budget, slashing public services, if elected to Government. Research carried out last year by the News of the World recorded 19 millionaires in the Shadow Cabinet, giving some indication of the level of wealth at the top of the Conservative Party. Here Times Money has updated the list. The figures for personal wealth are estimates calculated by the NOTW team in 2008.
1 Lord Strathclyde - £10 million
The Leader of Opposition in House of Lords owns a million-pound pad in central London among other investments and also has a stake in Auchendrane Estates, a property management company worth £6 million. Thomas Strathclyde, 49, was born in Glasgow and speaks fluent French and studied at the Universities of East Anglia, and Aix-en-Provence in south of France.
2 Philip Hammond - £9 million
The Shadow Treasury Chief Secretary has an unconfirmed stake in a property investment company called Castlemead Ltd. He and his wife Susan also own a house in Belgravia, Central London, which they bought for about £1m and is now valued at around £1.5m, according to the News of the World.
3 George Osborne - £4.3 million
Mr Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, went to St Paul's School in London and then Oxford University, where he was a member of the infamous Bullingdon Club. He has a home in Notting Hill, West London, valued at well over a million pounds and a constituency property worth an estimated half a million. He is also due to inherit a substantial stake in Osborne & Little, the wallpaper and fabric company set up by his father.
4 Jeremy Hunt - £4.1 million
The Shadow Secretary for Culture, Media & Sport owns almost half of educational guide publisher Hotcourses and has a property in leafy Farnham, Surrey. Jeremy’s first sporting interest was cross-country running at school. He now prefers to indulge in some Latin dancing – lambada is apparently his favourite - although he rarely has the time.
5 David Cameron - £3.2 million
The Conservative Party Leader went to Eton and then Oxford, where he joined the Bullingdon Club with Mr Osborne and Boris Johnson, the London Mayor. Mr Cameron and his wife stand to inherit a fortune. Samantha's mum is the successful businesswoman Viscountess Astor. Her dad is Sir Robert Sheffield, majority shareholder of Normanby Estate Holdings, worth £5.2m. David's father and grandfather were stockbrokers.
6 Dominic Grieve - £3.1 million
The Shadow Secretary of State for Justice was a barrister and ex-member of insurer Lloyds of London. He owns a £1.2m home in West London, plus a rental property in the City, and is part-owner of land in France.
7 Francis Maude - £3 million
The Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has properties in West Sussex, France and South London.
8 William Hague - £2.2 million
The Shadow Foreign Secretary has made an estimated £780,000 from after-dinner speeches in recent years - he reportedly earns up to £10,000 for one appearance - and was paid at least £220,000 as director of several private companies. The MP also owns property worth more than £1 million.
9 Andrew Mitchell - £2 million
The Shadow Secretary for International Development was a director at a merchant bank before becoming an MP in 2001. Mr Mitchell is still a director of Lazard & Co. He also earns £40,000 a year as senior strategy adviser to Accenture and has shareholdings in all three companies.
10 David Willetts - £1.9 million
The Member of Parliament for Havant since 1992 and Shadow Minister for Universities and Skills, with special responsibility for family policy. He has worked at HM Treasury, the Number 10 Policy Unit, and served as Paymaster General in the last Conservative Government.
Other senior Conservative figures
Lord Ashcroft - £1.1 billion The Conservative Party deputy chairman
Michael Spencer - £250 million The Conservative Party treasurer
With thanks to the News of the World and the New Statesman
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