Tory MP Alan Duncan gets £50,000 pay-off from oil company after becoming minister

The Conservative MP has returned to the Government frontbench under Theresa May

Alan Duncan, Foreign Office minister (Getty)

A Conservative MP has pocketed a £50,000 send-off from an oil company he worked for after he stepped down from his role working at the firm.

Alan Duncan was appointed as a Foreign Office minister by Theresa May this summer, after which he ended his previous second job as a non-executive director at Fujairah Refining Ltd.

Mr Duncan had previously worked for the Dubai-based oil company on top of his duties as an MP.

The firm, which previously paid him £8,000-a-month for 13 hours of work – around £615 an hour – has now given him a £50,000 severance pay off, according to Parliament’s register of interests.

Mr Duncan will now in fact take an overall pay cut upon entering the nation’s service as a minister. He will now earn a combined ministerial and MPs’ salary of £96,375 a year.

Mr Duncan in April came to David Cameron’s aid during the Panama Papers scandal, branding the Prime Minister’s critics “low achievers who hate enterprise, hate people who look after their own families, and who know absolutely nothing about the outside world”.

He additionally said those criticising Mr Cameron “hate anyone who’s even got a hint of wealth in his life”.

He later however clarified, saying that “success is of course not always the same as wealth”.

Mr Duncan’s new responsibilities at the Foreign Office include the Americas, Europe, and Nato. He was previously a minister for international development under the Coalition government until 2014.