WILLIAM Hague proved this week how lucrative the life of a failed Tory leader can be.

The annual publication of the Register of Member's Interests placed Hague's earnings at as much as £820,000 in 2004.

That included almost £200,000 for a Sunday newspaper column and up to £480,000 in speaking engagements.

Other top-earning MPs included Michael Portillo, the former Defence Secretary, who earned up to £560,000 for similar work.

All this is on top of their MP's salaries of £57,485 and expenses averaging £118,000 a year.

But a quick scan of Worcestershire MPs' entries in the register laid bare the massive differences in the earning potential of different politicians.

Labour's Mike Foster and Jacqui Smith, along with Wyre Forest independent Richard Taylor had nothing to declare between them. Not a sausage.

The county's Tories, however, had one or two earnings and freebies - though not on the scale of Messrs Hague and Portillo.

Peter Luff took a 10-day tour of India during the Liberal Democrat and Labour conferences last September, taking in Delhi, Kerala, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

He was a guest of the Indian Government for the trip, which took in briefings on political and economic developments in the sub-continent.

The mid-Worcestershire MP, who is known to enjoy a good curry, is chairman of the Conservative Parliamentary Friends of India.

Other entries in the interests register include Sir Michael Spicer's earnings of between £10,000 and £15,000 as non-executive president of the Association of Electricity Producers.

The West Worcestershire MP was an energy minister under Margaret Thatcher in the late 1980s.

Julie Kirkbride earned up to £5,000 for lectures at the Civil Service College and enjoyed a six-day trip to Egypt last February at the expense of the Egyptian Government.

Bill Wiggin spent a day shooting, courtesy of media and investor relations firm Cubitt Consulting.

Paul Keetch, the Lib Dem MP for Hereford had the most to declare in this part of the world, however.

He is the chairman and owner of a company providing advice on Parliamentary matters, called Raynard Research Limited.

The company also provides Mr Keetch with sponsorship and financial support for his political, campaigning and constituency work, as do members of the Hereford Parliamentary Business Club.

Meanwhile, his position as the Lib Dems' defence spokesman has meant he is one of the better-travelled MPs of the last year.

He took in Israel and the Occupied Territories last March, Botswana in June and Washington DC in August.

His wife and son accompanied him on the last, although he stresses that he covered their expenses himself.