Boris Johnson left Downing Street three years ago but the former prime minister is still making front-page news.
Today, The Guardian accused him of "profiting from contacts and influence he gained in office in a possible breach of ethics and lobbying rules". A cache of 1,800 files leaked to the newspaper from his private office, which was set up after he left No. 10, raises questions about whether he has "breached 'revolving door' rules governing post-ministerial careers".
The private office
Former British prime ministers are able to claim up to £115,000 a year in public subsidies to help fund their private office via the public duty costs allowance. But the leak of documents from Johnson's office might "spark questions" about this set-up, which is intended to support public duties rather than private or commercial ones, said The Guardian.
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Former PMs are not allowed to lobby contacts in commercial companies and foreign governments made while in office. But the leaked emails, invoices and contracts suggest, among other things, that Johnson lobbied a Saudi official he met while in office to ask him to pitch to the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for a firm he co-chairs. Johnson is yet to comment on the findings.
The speaking circuit
Johnson's private office has also "played a central role" in his "globe-trotting career giving speeches for deep-pocketed clients", a path well trodden by previous prime ministers, said The Guardian. The files suggest he made £5.1 million from 34 speeches between October 2022 and May 2024. Each engagement typically earns him "hundreds of thousands of pounds, as well as generous expenses to cover first-class flights and stays in five-star hotels for him and his staff".
The former Tory leader recently appeared at Usher Hall in Edinburgh for an interview and audience Q&A, where general admission seats were priced at £75 and VIP tickets were £145.
Johnson's family life
Johnson's wife, Carrie, gave birth to a baby girl named Poppy in May, the couple's fourth child and, as Carrie wrote in an Instagram post, "final gang member". Their first child, Wilfred, was born in the early months of the Covid pandemic. The couple, who married in May 2021 at Westminster Cathedral, also have Romy and Frank.
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Johnson has four adult children with his second wife, barrister Marina Wheeler, and at least one other child fathered via an affair; the 61-year-old has consistently refused to confirm how many children he has.
Johnson's memoir
Johnson's memoir "Unleashed" was published in October 2024, billed as a chronicle of his time in office. We should all "stand by for my thoughts on Britain's future to explode over the publishing world like a much-shaken bottle of champagne", he wrote in the press release.
Yet the memoir received few bubbly reviews. It was "less an autobiography than a nearly 800-page staircase argument", said The Economist. Johnson "rambles on", making the book, for the most part, "not good at all".
It did briefly top the bestseller charts but is then "understood to have slumped well below expectations" in sales, and is unlikely to justify the "apparent £2 million advance" paid to Johnson by publisher HarperCollins, said The Independent.
A return to journalism
Johnson saw his premiership "implode abruptly", leaving him with "plenty of unfinished business", said Politico. He has been writing a column for the Daily Mail since standing down as an MP and "hasn't shied away from strident interventions" attacking Keir Starmer's agenda.
GB News also announced that Johnson would become a presenter on the channel in late 2023. While he has appeared on GB News since then, he has yet to take up his formal role and it is unclear when or if he will.
A return to politics?
A return to frontline politics has been rumoured ever since Johnson quit as prime minister, and he even received sufficient nominations to contest the Tory leadership after Liz Truss stepped down in October 2022, although he ultimately declined to run.
But much has changed in politics since 2019, when Johnson won the Conservatives' biggest general election mandate since the 1980s. There are few, if any, safe Tory seats and Reform UK is on the rise. His close ally Nadine Dorries, who defected to Reform last week, has suggested that he should team up with Nigel Farage ahead of the next general election. But Reform leader Farage dismissed the idea, telling the BBC's "Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg" that the British public will "never, ever forgive him" for allowing millions of people to migrate to the UK after Brexit.
Hollie Clemence is the UK executive editor. She joined the team in 2011 and spent six years as news editor for the site, during which time the country had three general elections, a Brexit referendum, a Covid pandemic and a new generation of British royals. Before that, she was a reporter for IHS Jane’s Police Review, and travelled the country interviewing police chiefs, politicians and rank-and-file officers, occasionally from the back of a helicopter or police van. She has a master’s in magazine journalism from City University, London, and has written for publications and websites including TheTimes.co.uk and Police Oracle.
