"I Want to be like common people, I want to do what common people do"


As Span reports on his page despite their period in office having finished nearly six months ago the mud slinging against the previous Government's lack of experience in the 'real world' shows no sign of abating. Still, what with all the talk of housing benefits, means testing and thumb screws, it's worth reminding howselves of the humble upbringings of the current cabinet members and how well equipped they are to, as the old Queen Mum once (almost remarked), "look the working class in the eye and empathise with them."

The following is as reported by that well known choice of morning newspaper for the lower income families, the Daily Mail, on the morning after the coalition was announced. As you will see apart from Michael Gove the Conservative-Lib Dem cabinet are also well versed in spending other people's money!

William Hague has even managed to carve out a small fortune from after dinner speaking despite being on the losing side more often than that which won!


THE CABINET RICH LIST
1. Lord Strathclyde £10m - Leader of the House of Lords, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

The 2nd Baron Strathclyde, more normally addressed as Tom, is wealthy even by the aristocratic standards of the Lords. The half-Belgian peer owns a lucrative slice of his family’s estate management company, Auchendrane Estates, has numerous private directorships and a £2.3million house in Westminster.

2. Philip Hammond £7.5m - Secretary of State for Transport

Hammond had been expected to take the No2 position at the Treasury until the coalition agreement was struck, but there is little need for him to make personal economies. His stake in property company Castlemead has been estimated to be worth up to £6million in shares and dividends. He also co-owns a £1million house in Westminster and a £400,000 home in Woking, Surrey.

3. George Osborne £4.6m - Chancellor of the Exchequer

The youngest Chancellor for more than a century holds a £2million stake in his father’s luxury wallpaper company, Osborne & Little, and lives in a £2million family home in London’s Notting Hill. His constituency property in Tatton adds another £600,000.

4. Jeremy Hunt £4.5m - Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport
Hunt, a lambada-dancing party high-flier, owns a stake in the educational publisher Hotcourses estimated at nearly £3million. He also owns a property in Surrey, a house in Hammersmith, West London, and a half-share of a holiday home in Italy.

5. David Cameron £4m - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service

The PM and his wife both come from wealthy backgrounds and enjoy substantial property assets of their own: their London home has been valued at £2.7million and their constituency house at £1million. Mrs Cameron’s work as the creative director of Smythson, the upmarket stationers, earned her a £300,000 bonus. Both are in line to inherit fortunes from their parents: the combined wealth of the Camerons’ parents has been put as high as £30million.

6. Chris Huhne £3.5m - Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
The former journalist and City economist is known as ‘nine homes Huhne’ – he has five buy-to-lets in London and Oxford, a family home in the capital and a house in his Eastleigh constituency. He also has a share of a holiday home in France, while his wife, Vicky Pryce, a senior civil servant, owns a property in Greece.

7. Dominic Grieve £3m - Attorney General
Dry-as-dust barrister Grieve has built up shareholdings in companies including Royal Bank of Scotland which are thought to be worth nearly £1million. He also owns a £1.3million home in Hammersmith and Fulham, and a rental property in the capital.

8. Francis Maude £3m -Minister for the Cabinet Office, Paymaster General
Party grandee Maude owns two buy-to-let nest-egg properties in London and France, and a valuable family home in Sussex. Until David Cameron’s crackdown on his team’s second jobs last year, he was a member of Barclays Bank’s Asia-Pacific Advisory Committee. He also has a number of shareholdings.

9. William Hague £2.5m - Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Canny Hague’s property interests in London and his Yorkshire constituency are worth at least £1million, while his earnings from the after-dinner circuit – at up to £25,000 a speech – private directorships and book contracts add at least another £1.5million.

10. Andrew Mitchell £2m - Secretary of State for International Development
Former merchant banker Mitchell retains lucrative interests from his time in the City, including various property shareholdings. He also owns a home in London worth
£1.6million.

11. David Laws £1m-2m estimate - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Laws is said to have made so much money in the City that he was able to retire at the age of 28, after betting $1billion of his company’s money on the value of the dollar – and guessing the right way. He displays few public signs of this reputed wealth, apart from a house in France and a £400,000 cottage in his Somerset constituency. He keeps any shareholdings well-concealed.

12. Nick Clegg £1.9m - Deputy Prime Minister
Like his coalition partner Cameron, Clegg’s father made millions in the City. While Clegg senior has an impressive international property portfolio worth several million pounds, the Lib Dem leader’s own wealth comes from a £1.5million property in Putney and a constituency house in Sheffield.

13. David Willetts £1.9m - Minister of State (Universities and Science) Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Willetts, who is married to the successful professional artist Sarah Butterfield, derived a useful income from private directorships until the Cameron crackdown. He owns a London house worth £1.3million, a property in Hampshire worth £300,000 and a rental property.

14. Theresa May £1.6m - Secretary of State for the Home Department and Minister for Women and Equality
Vicar’s daughter May owns a £1million home in London with her husband Philip, and a home in Berkshire worth an estimated £600,000.

15. Oliver Letwin £1.6m - Minister of State, Cabinet Office
Former Rothschild banker Letwin, the Old Etonian son of academics, holds numerous investments from his time in the City. He also owns a £700,000 constituency home in Somerset and an £800,000 home in London.

16. Caroline Spelman £1.5m - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Spelman, a former sugar beet commodity secretary for the National Farmers Union, co-owns a biotechnology business with her husband, has a constituency home in Dorridge, West Midlands, and a property near Westminster.

17. Owen Paterson £1.5m - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Paterson, who is married to Rose Ridley, daughter of the 4th Viscount Ridley, has a second life as the owner of a large country estate on which he lets buildings and agricultural land.

18. Cheryl Gillan £1.5m - Secretary of State for Wales
Gillan, the privately-educated daughter of an Army officer, owes her fortune to the three homes she owns in the Home Counties.

19. Kenneth Clarke £1m+ - Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State for Justice
Cigar-smoking Government veteran Clarke has accumulated shareholdings in companies such as BP, BAT and Diageo which were recently valued at more than £600,000. He owns a £500,000 house in his Nottinghamshire constituency.

20. Sir George Young £1m - Leader of the House of Commons, Lord Privy Seal
Aristocratic Sir George, known as the ‘bicycling baronet’, owns a £650,000 family home in Penton Mewsey, Hampshire, and a £500,000 flat in London.

21. Iain Duncan Smith £1m - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Former Tory leader Duncan Smith owes his apparent wealth to his wife, Betsy. He lives in a £1million house provided by her father, the 5th Baron Cottesloe, which appears to be tied up in a series of complex family trusts.

22. Michael Gove £1m - Secretary of State for Education
Close Cameron aide Gove owns two properties – a London house and a home in his Surrey constituency – together worth over £1million. Until entering Government, he also earned at least £70,000 a year on top of his MP’s salary from journalism and book-writing.

23. Dr Liam Fox £1m - Secretary of State for Defence
Dr Fox is another Cabinet Minister who has benefited from the two-home life lived by many MPs, owning a Central London property and a large house in Somerset which combined are worth £1million.

Just six Cabinet Ministers are believed to be worth less than £1 million. They are: 24. Business Secretary Vince Cable, 25. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, 26. Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles, 27. Minister Without Portfolio Baroness Warsi, 28. Chief Whip Patrick McLoughlin and 29. Scottish Secretary Danny Alexander.