As soon as he quit his role as foreign secretary, Boris Johnson went job hunting. Luckily for him, it’s not too tricky for former ministers to find some extra work.
The Canary has found that the former foreign secretary will have earned over £65,000 from a second job in just three months after leaving Theresa May’s cabinet. As this extract from the Register of Members’ Financial Interests shows:
Busy Boris
Just a few days after resigning, Johnson signed up to a new £275,000 deal at the Telegraph. According to the MP’s returns, earnings from his column total around £2,291 an hour. The MP had previously worked for the paper but was forced to give up the column when he became foreign secretary in 2016.
The year-long contract will see Johnson more than double his salary from his time as foreign secretary. It also means he will earn more than ten times the UK average yearly wage from his second job alone.
Some may say this ruins the ‘man of the people’ stance he adopted during the Brexit referendum. But it will be a relief to the MP, who told friends he was ‘struggling’ on his £142,467 salary at the foreign office.
Bending the rules
Not everyone was happy about his increased salary though. The New European reported in August that the MP “broke ministerial rules” when re-joining the paper.
The MP signed the contract before getting the go-ahead from the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments. In fact, he waited a further two weeks before informing the committee.
The words within his weekly column have also landed him in hot water. The MP was criticised for “dog-whistle” racism over comments that were published in the paper. Johnson claimed that Muslim women wearing burqas looked like “letter boxes” and ‘bank robbers’.
Living the high life
With the first of his new earnings hitting his bank account in August, Boris Johnson will be able to sleep a little easier at night. Not that he is short of a gift or two to help him along.
The Surrey County Cricket Club treated the Tory leadership hopeful and a pal to a day out at a test match, with hospitality worth £1,800. Well, it is always important to help the needy.
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