Boris Johnson pockets £2.5million as he signs up to after-dinner speaking agency
Boris Johnson has raked in £2.5million just by signing up to an after-dinner speech agency.
The lucrative fee takes his earnings in the past year to a whopping £4.8million.
Mr Johnson is by far the highest-paid MP as he cashes in on his disastrous time as PM.
According to the latest register of interests, the Harry Walker speaking agency in New York has given him a £2.5million advance.
A gushing profile of Mr Johnson on its website advertises him as a “visionary thinker who takes risks for the principles of democracy, freedom and free markets”.
The agency says the ex-PM is “sought-after for his illuminating insights on global security, the world economy, and his continued work supporting freedom around the world”.
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It describes him as a “champion of democracy, freedom, and free market capitalism”.
However, the profile makes no mention of the series of scandals that forced him from power.
Other after-dinner speakers represented by the agency include Serena Williams, as well as Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Since leaving No10 in September, Mr Johnson has so far earned £1.8million in speaking fees.
His engagements have included an event in Washington DC for the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers and a speech for New York-based investment bank Centreview Partners.
He travelled to Delhi for a gathering organised by the Hindustan Times and to Singapore to address a firm involved in artificial intelligence.
Mr Johnson has also received a £510,000 advance for his upcoming memoirs.
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News of Mr Johnson’s latest earnings comes just a fortnight after it emerged that the taxpayer could end up spending more than £222,000 on the former PM’s legal fees for the upcoming Commons inquiry into whether he misled Parliament over Partygate.
No10 has insisted there is precedent for ex-ministers to get legal support for anything relating to their duties while in government.
But Labour has accused Rishi Sunak of “writing a blank cheque for the disgraced prime minister’s legal fund”.
Mr Johnson announced his resignation as PM in July after most of his Cabinet quit their jobs in protest.
He stepped down in September after Liz Truss was elected as Tory leader. When she was forced out weeks later, Mr Johnson attempted to stage a comeback.
But he withdrew from the leadership contest as he failed to match the support Mr Sunak had from Tory MPs.