WILLIAM Hague is to get rid of all his lucrative outside interests by September, he confirmed today.

The shadow Foreign Secretary said he would be ending his directorships and after-dinner speeches in order to concentrate fully on the next general election.

As well as writing books, regular newspaper columns and delivering speeches, Mr Hague is a director of AES Engineering and AMT-SYBEX Group, and a Parliamentary adviser to the JCB Group and Terra Firma Capital Partners.

According to the House of Commons Register of Members Interests, he earned at least £120,000 between May 2008 and March of this year from speeches and hosting award ceremonies. He is reported to have earned between £3m and £4m since he stood down as Tory leader in 2001.

Today the MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire said ahead of the next general election it was important not to have the distraction of such interests but defended the right of MPs to take up additional outside employment.

He told Sunday Live on Sky News: "I think ahead of the general election is it very important to have no distraction or the appearance of a distraction. I havent spent much time on outside interests since I finished my book on William Wilberforce.

"I very much defend MPs being able to have some outside interests because I think without that we would eventually have a Parliament of people who are either entirely dependent on the taxpayer...or people who are independently wealthy before they came into politics and I think that is something that has to be avoided.

"But for myself I am closing those things down in the next few months."

Mr Hague said the announcement was not connected with the ongoing scandals involving MPs expenses. He no longer had time to write books but would still give some after dinner speeches for charity and local causes, he said.