The former whip has taken over as chairman of the advisory board of RTC Education Ltd, which has given over 5 165,000 to the Conservatives. According to Companies House, the president of the RTC is Maurizio Bragagni, one of the only major donors to the Tories, which has made headlines in recent weeks over comments about sharia law from which the party has distanced itself. In March, No. 10 withdrew from imposing restrictions on MPs’ roles in private companies, amid controversy over whether such roles could create a conflict of interest and wider concerns about the revolving door between government and industry. RTC Education, also known as the Regent Group, describes itself as an “educational real estate and investment management organization that owns and operates independent schools, colleges of higher education and investment firms.” Williamson’s role is to provide general strategic advice to the company for its international expansion, as well as chairing advisory board meetings. It is estimated that it will take about 80 hours a year – training at a rate of about 625 £ per hour. The move has been approved by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), the post-ministerial overseer that even its chairman, Eric Pickles, admits is unfair because he has no enforcement powers. Acoba has not yet revealed whether Williamson has received advice on his terms of employment with RTC and the extent of any contact between him and the team when he was head of the Department of Education. Williamson and RTC Education have reached out for comment. Other former cabinet ministers who have held lucrative positions in the areas he previously ruled include former Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, who took on roles at Airlines UK, an industry lobby, and XRail, a railroad company, and Chris Grayling. who got a job of 100 100,000 a year as a strategic consultant in a port company. Nicky Morgan, former Secretary of Culture, Finance Minister and now Emeritus, served on the board of Santander bank, as a consultant to the corporate law firm Travers Smith and as a senior consultant to the lobbying and public relations firm Grayling, as well as becoming the independent chairman of the British Insurers Association. Subscribe to the First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7 p.m. BST Several former ministers have served as advisers to foreign governments or government agencies, including former Secretary of State Mark Field, who has been approved as an adviser to the Cayman Islands, and Philip Hammond, a former chancellor and caretaker of Kuwait and Bahrain. The Guardian analysis in November found that half of the ministers who had resigned from the governments of Boris Johnson or Theresa May had later taken up positions in companies related to their former government positions.
