Talk is cheap, unless you are a charismatic former United States president with a notorious personal history. Since leaving office in 2001, Bill Clinton has amassed an estimated $40-million from speaking fees.
Last year was his best yet, raking in between $9-million and $10-million from speeches around the world, from Australia to Egypt and Colombia.
Life after the White House has proved to be more lucrative than when he was in it. He earned in the region of $200 000 a year as president — a lot of money for most people, but peanuts by the standards of the Washington elite: the company directors, lobbyists and lawyers with whom the Clintons mix.
Clinton, who went into the White House with relatively modest means compared with most of his predecessors, left office an estimated $12-million in debt from election campaigning and legal fees in relation to the Whitewater affair and the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
Since becoming an ex-president, he has established himself as the world’s best-paid after-dinner speaker, charging about $150 000 a speech. On one particular day, in Canada, he gave two speeches, earning $475 000.
He told an audience in Kentucky in the autumn: ”I never had a nickel to my name until I got out of the White House, and now I’m a millionaire.”
The latest figures for his earnings were published on Friday in the Washington Post, based on a financial disclosure statement filed by Hillary Clinton in her role as senator.
The popularity of Bill Clinton, compared with other former presidents such as Jimmy Carter and George Bush Snr, is mainly because of his charm, his role in the Middle East and Northern Ireland peace processes, and because he is one of the best political orators of his generation. But it is also partly out of lingering curiosity over the Lewinsky affair.
Last year, he averaged almost a speech a day — 352 in total. His presence can attract people to an otherwise lacklustre conference of financiers, food distributors or the bio-technology industry. There are other bonuses, such as the possibility of being pictured alongside the former president.
When Vanity Fair ran an article several years ago about Clinton’s earnings from speaking engagements, it became one of the best-thumbed magazines in Downing Street as the prime minister contemplated retirement.
Tony Blair, who, like Clinton in the White House, sees himself as relatively poor in comparison with others in the milieu in which he lives, has a list of speech topics similar to Clinton’s: Middle East peace negotiations, climate change, development issues.
Britain emerged as one of Clinton’s most popular and lucrative destinations. He visited the United Kingdom and Ireland 10 times last year, earning $1 328 099.
Speeches organised by his golfing partner, Satty Singh, a wealthy businessman in Glasgow, brought in an estimated $900 000. Guests at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin paid $1 000 a head to hear him at a champagne lunch and reception. For $4 000 more, they had their photograph taken with him and an autographed copy of his memoir.
But he was only paid personally for about 20% of the speeches he made. Many of the others were for charities, mainly the William J Clinton Foundation, whose annual budget is $60-million and which he runs to help the developing world, primarily to combat HIV/Aids. Some of the speeches were given for free.
His autobiography, My Life, published in 2004, generated between $10-million and $12-million.
As well as raising money for himself and his charity, he is also raising funds for Hillary’s presidential bid. This week, he sent out a mass email to try to raise $1-million in a week for her campaign. His drawing power appears undiminished. On Friday, three days in, it stood at $379 442.
Cashing in
Rudolph Giuliani uses his image as New York’s heroic 9/11 mayor to earn up to $100 000 per speech.
Margaret Thatcher used to command £60 000 for her lectures, but her doctors told her to stop.
After leaving office in 1989, Ronald Reagan earned $2-million for speeches in Japan.
The 2005 register of UK members’ interests showed that former Tory leader William Hague earned up to £820 000 on top of his MP’s salary.
Cherie Blair was criticised for earning £30 000 for a lecture on a private US trip in 2005 while Tony Blair visited the White House.
— Guardian Unlimited Â