Austerity Britain? George Osborne earns near average annual UK salary per speech

The former chancellor, George Osborne has found a lucrative post-political career in after-dinner talks which have netted him more than half a million pounds in just seven weeks.

Osborne earned £26,055 ($32,786) an hour for talks to bankers, totalling £508,068 ($639,49) for 19.5 hours of work in October and November this year.

This is seven times higher than his annual £74,000 ($93,110) salary as a backbench MP. The average median salary in the UK, according to the Office for National Statistics, is currently £27,531 ($34,643).

Osborne's cut to the top rate of tax from 50p down to 45p for people earning over £150,000-a-year ($188,751), means his own taxes on his public-speaking income will be £25,000 ($31,466) less, the Mirror reported.

According to the MPs' register of interests, the speaking events were with Wall Street banks, financial firms and a university.

The latest three engagements declared are £85,396.24 ($107,484.83) from Citibank for two speeches, £34,109.14 ($42,931.81) from Black Rock and £68,125.35 ($85,746.65) from Centerbridge Partners, which are investment firms.

Previous registers showed he was paid for another five speeches earning him between £28,000 ($35,242) and £81,000 ($101,951) each, The Guardian reported.

Osborne is signed up to the Washington Speakers Bureau, an agency that has former prime minister Tony Blair on its books, although he fetches far less cash than the £200,000 ($251,732) a time Blair was once thought to command.

The Tatton MP's income dwarfs that of other former ministers. Ex-Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith - who quit as Work and Pensions Secretary in March earned just £5,500 ($6,922) from speeches, according to Mail Online.