Boris Johnson could make more than £ 5 million a year after leaving Downing Street, experts estimate.
The figure will be welcome news for a prime minister who is said to regularly complain to friends that it is difficult for him, citing his second divorce, several children and his reduced income after entering № 10.
In fact, Johnson’s salary of £ 155,376 puts him in the top 1% of the winners in the UK. His home, transport and much of his living expenses are borne by the taxpayer.
Whether his financial difficulties are real or imagined, there are two certainties, says Tom Bauer, one of Johnson’s biographers: that he is hopeless with money and that he will have no problem making a lot of money after leaving office.
“Because he’s such a bad money manager, he’s in this ridiculous situation with the renovation of his apartment on Downing Street,” Bauer said. “After this failure, the financiers who finance the Tory party took him to one side and told him there was no need to worry about money; that his future profits are guaranteed to be so strong that he can draw whatever loans he needs at very low interest rates.
Giles Edwards spoke to many former world leaders about their lives after leaving his post for his book The Ex Men. He agrees that Johnson’s profit potential after Downing Street is incredibly strong. “Former leaders are being offered everything they can for a fee that can be nothing more than extravagant,” he said. Johnson’s memoirs alone are guaranteed to earn him about £ 1 million, Edwards estimates.
In the days of Johnson’s backpack, when he earned around £ 830,000 for newspaper columns, books, speeches and TV appearances, he called the £ 250,000 he received for his column in the Daily Telegraph as “chicken food”.
But no matter how lightly he weighed him when he made big money, there seems to be no doubt that he and the Daily Telegraph will rush into each other’s arms again as his time at office ends.
However, the biggest money has to be made in the lecture chain: Theresa May has earned more than £ 2.1 million since July 2019. Johnson’s fame means he can demand higher rates, says Tom Clark. associate editor at Prospect magazine, especially in the United States, where Donald Trump presented him as the British version of himself. “He has a ready base for Trump outside,” Clark said. “But that doesn’t mean Democrats hate him. He will have supporters in both camps. “
It seems that the recordings of these people while on duty are of little importance in the lecture chain. Nor does it matter to corporations willing to pay half a million or more to former leaders to impress their customers.
“What people in this world have told me,” Edwards said, “is that attracting big names doesn’t necessarily mean making connections or generating business in any literal sense.” They want to be able to say to potential customers, “Do you want the former prime minister to come to dinner?”
Andrew Gimson, whose second biography of Johnson will be published this fall, agrees that Johnson’s main fundraising activities will be in the celebrity lecture chain. “He will be able to command at least £ 100,000 per speech in America, Japan, China and Australia and easily make 15 to 20 of them a year.
But while his accomplishments may not hurt his brand, there is something he can do. Sonia Purnell, another of Johnson’s biographers, wonders if Johnson’s two great loves – power and money – could destroy each other.
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“There is tension here: he is not resigning, but the longer he tries to cling to it, the lower his mark falls,” she said. “The image of his fingernails leaning against the wall of Downing Street as people try to pull him out and he tries to cling is not good for his brand.
But there is another reason why Johnson may not make big money for long. According to Gimson, his main occupation when leaving office will be the attempt to return.
“Johnson could make many millions by becoming a TV star like Jeremy Clarkson or Pierce Morgan,” Gimson said. “But he chose power over money. I think he will do it again. Johnson loves power. I certainly see him spin it one more time. “
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