Boris Johnson criticised for making millions while rarely appearing in Commons
Boris Johnson has been urged to stick to his job as an MP and save the speeches he charges private companies millions of pounds to hear for the House of Commons.
Having already made more than £3.7m in 2023, the former prime minister has faced criticism for the limited time he has spent making contributions in parliament.
New figures released by the “Westminster accounts” investigation, led by Sky News, show Johnson’s outside pay this year accounts for about 85% of that for all MPs.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing and Johnson is said to have ensured all his extra pay has been declared in line with the rules.
Johnson has spoken in the Commons 16 times across 10 days since leaving Downing Street last September, received free accommodation worth tens of thousands of pounds and racked up millions for speeches and an advance on his memoirs.
All that is on top of his £84,000 salary as an MP and the six-figure annual allowance available to all former prime ministers.
Charging more than £1m for a speech was not “the best value for money, but people will make their choices about what they want to pay to hear”, said Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary.
She told Sky News: “He’s an elected MP and perhaps he should be making those speeches in the House of Commons chamber. Boris Johnson just does what he wants. He always does what he wants. I think popping back up every so often just reminds us of exactly how debased the Conservative party has become.”
Phillipson also highlighted the bullying allegations against the justice secretary, Dominic Raab – which he denies – and reappointment of the home secretary, Suella Braverman, days after she was found to have breached the ministerial code. Such issues showed the Conservative party was “rotten from top to bottom, not just Johnson”, Phillipson said.
The former Tory cabinet minister
Stephen Dorrell said Johnson should ask himself: “Is he still in politics, or is he in show business?”
“If he wants to be taken seriously as a contributor to the political debate, the place where political debate should take place is the House of Commons,” said Dorrell.
Now a Liberal Democrat, Dorrell suggested Johnson could not decide whether he wanted to be a “private figure earning good money because he has high profile” or to remain a public figure.
At the height of the scandal over the Tory MP Owen Paterson being censured for paid lobbying, Johnson threw his support behind a plan to impose a “reasonable limit” on MPs’ outside earnings.
He said in a letter to the Commons speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, that an MP’s primary role should be to “serve their constituents and to represent their interests in parliament”.