Twenty-eight former Labour ministers have cashed in on their connections in government and Whitehall by taking jobs in the private sector in the past two years.

It represents the biggest exodus of ministers into the private sector since Labour came to power and is worth at least £10m a year in salaries and fees.

Thirteen of those who have accepted jobs are still serving MPs - and at least a third have a potential conflict of interest because their companies lobby government or bid for contracts. Two former Labour defence ministers have accepted jobs from weapons companies.

This weekend MPs demanded tougher rules to prevent ministers cashing in on their government connections. In opposition, Gordon Brown criticised the last Tory government for the “revolving door” from the “cabinet room to the boardroom”.

The latest minister to cash in is Norman Warner, a former health minister and now a peer, who has become nonexecutive chairman of a company - UK Health Gateway - which promises to “open the door” for overseas businesses selling to the National Health Service.

Last week an undercover reporter approached Jon Wilks, one of the founders of UK HealthGateway, to ask how it could help an overseas company manufacturing surgical instruments to win NHS business. Wilks said the company, which has an office in Pall Mall, London, could draw on a range of expertise which included Lord Warner.

He said Warner, who was health minister with responsibility for NHS delivery, was valued for his contacts and his understanding of the NHS. “His use is his connections and the people who he knows,” Wilks said.

“But it would be unfair to suggest that because of Norman’s political connections he would create all kinds of opportunities for the client. [He understands] the processes and the people within it.

“He’s an extremely useful individual to have at the head of our business because of his understanding about how the NHS and the [Department of Health] work.”

Warner, who resigned from the government in December 2006, also works as an adviser to Xansa, a technology firm, and Byotrol, an antimicrobial company, which both sell services or products to the NHS. In addition he is paid by DLA Piper, which advised ministers on the £12 billion IT project for the NHS. Warner was responsible for the project when in government.

Warner, a former special adviser to Jack Straw, has not broken any rules because all his jobs have been approved by the advisory committee on business appointments, which ministers are required to consult if they wish to accept jobs in the private sector within two years of leaving office.

Warner is not alone in seeking well rewarded work in the private sector. From the Home Office and the transport department to the Ministry of Defence, ministers are leaving to walk into jobs with private firms often vying for government business.

Paul Flynn, a member of the Commons public administration committee, said he could not “remember ministers hopping into the private sector like this . . . They should be banned for life from taking jobs in the area in which they have served as ministers. It is a way of buying access”.

Among those who have taken private sector jobs are: Patricia Hewitt MP, the former health secretary, who has accepted a consultancy worth £45,000 with Alliance Boots, the retail and pharmacy company, and a £55,000 job with an investment company that has bought 25 private hospitals from Bupa. David Blunkett MP, the former home secretary, who is paid more than £25,000 as adviser to Entrust, which has expertise in identity card projects and wants to provide technology for the British scheme. Two former defence ministers, Lord Bach and Ivor Caplin, who went to work for weapons companies selling to the Ministry of Defence. Bach is now in Brown’s government and has resigned from his defence job. Ian McCartney MP, the former trade minister who is being paid £113,000 a year to advise the Fluor Corporation, an American nuclear company bidding for a multi-million-pound nuclear waste contract. The company says he will not have any role in lobbying government. Stephen Ladyman MP, the former transport minister who is working for ITIS Holdings, which sells traffic data to the Department for Transport.

The advisory committee on business appointments is reluctant to advise ministers not to accept jobs in the private sector and it emerged last week that it has done this only once.

The public administration committee is examining the lobbying industry and will consider whether the rules on private sector jobs for former ministers should be tightened. Even some members of the business appointments committee admit there are legitimate concerns about the current system.

Lord Maclennan, one of the committee members, said ministers who worked in a department such as the Ministry of Defence made decisions on multi-million-pound contracts and it was of potential concern if bidders were viewed as possible future employers.

Wilks said Warner had been employed for his expertise and not his contacts. He said the former minister had correctly consulted the business appointments committee about the job and had abided by the rules.

“He has an understanding of how the NHS works. The NHS needs to keep its options open regarding innovative products and if Lord Warner can help through our organisation to help get innovations into the NHS, then that’s a good thing,” Wilks said.

Who does what

The jobs bonanza for Labour’s former ministers:

Baroness Amos
Travant Capital Partners, finance

Hilary Armstrong MP
GovNet Communications, publisher

Lord Bach
Selex Sensors and Airborne Systems, defence

Tony Blair
JP Morgan and Zurich Financial Services

David Blunkett MP

Entrust, internet security

Lord Boyd
Dundas and Wilson, law firm

Richard Caborn MP
Amec, infrastructure

Ivor Caplin
MBDA, defence company

Charles Clarke MP
Beachcroft, law firm

Lord Evans
EFG bank

Lord Filkin Serco,
public sector services

Barry Gardiner MP
Reynolds Partners, finance

Lord Goldsmith
Debevoise & Plimpton, law

Nigel Griffiths MP
Jabbar Group

Patricia Hewitt MP
Alliance Boots

Baroness Hollis
Higham Group, pensions

Melanie Johnson
ABPI, drug trade body

Stephen Ladyman MP
ITIS Holdings, traffic data

Ian McCartney MP
Fluor Corp, engineering

Denis MacShane MP
United Utilities

Alan Milburn MP
PepsiCo

Chris Pond
Cape Claims Services

Nick Raynsford MP
Hometrack, property data

John Reid MP
Celtic football club

Baroness Symons
Caparo Group, steel

Lord Triesman
Football Association

Lord Truscott
Gavin Anderson and Company, public affairs

Lord Warner
UK HealthGateway

Source: Advisory Committee on Business Appointments list. Some may have since left the companies

Times Recommends

• Speed limit of 20mph to cut urban road deaths
• Great grades not needed to be a good doctor
• The survivors' tales