Boris Johnson was paid a whopping £95,000 for giving a single two-hour speech earlier this month, it has emerged.
According to House of Commons financial records, the former Foreign Secretary received a £94,507 pay cheque for speaking to a New York finance company – as well as free travel and accommodation.
But BoJo’s bumper earnings don’t stop there. In addition to his £77,379 annual salary for serving as an MP, it was revealed that Johnson takes home almost £23,000 a month for writing his weekly column in The Telegraph.
Not bad work if you can get it – especially as the Oxbridge and South Ruislip MP reckons he only spends around 10 hours a month working on his articles.
Add to that the nearly £9,500 he pocketed in September and October in book royalties and it looks like it’s set to be a *very* merry Christmas in the Johnson household.
The £50,000 donation he received from hedge fund manager Jon Wood last month for office and staffing costs could also come in handy if the Conservatives find themselves in need of a new leader…
The details of Johnson’s pay come after staunch Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg appeared to voice his support for the ex-Cabinet minister taking over from Theresa May.
Writing in The Spectator, Rees-Mogg shared his hopes for a Tory leadership election in the near future. “I would not throw my hat into the ring as I fear it would be thrown back ‘Oddjob’ style,” the backbench MP said.
Johnson, on the other hand, “certainly makes politics interesting and has the qualities of leadership”, Rees-Mogg added.