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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Dan Bloom

Ousted Boris Johnson can trouser £18,860 payout and access £115k-a-year fund for life

Boris Johnson is set to trouser an £18,860 payout for leaving office tomorrow - and will be able to access a £115,000-a-year fund for life.

Friends have said the ousted Prime Minister is “sad” and “cross” after his party forced him into quitting over a string of scandals.

But there is a silver lining - he will be eligible for a quarter of his yearly ministerial salary, which is £75,440, as a resignation payment.

He will also be able to draw on a bumper public duties fund, which hands ex-PMs up to £115,000 a year in “necessary office costs and secretarial costs arising from their special position in public life”. The fund cannot be used for the ex-PM's personal expenses.

John Major and Tony Blair both claimed the full £115,000 in 2019-20, while Gordon Brown claimed £114,802 and David Cameron claimed £111,457.

Liz Truss with her husband Hugh O'Leary as she was confirmed to be the next PM (PA)

Theresa May - who as a sitting MP can access Parliament’s staffing budget - claimed less at £34,836.

Asked if Mr Johnson would draw on the fund, his official spokesman said: “I believe so yes, it certainly will be available to him.”

Asked if he would keep the £18,860 resignation payment, the spokesman replied: “It’s not a question I’ve asked him - it will be available to him in the normal way.”

It comes on top of the £16,876 he pocketed for quitting as Foreign Secretary in 2018, over Theresa May’s Brexit deal.

But he’ll miss out on a special Prime Ministerial pension worth half his salary, as the bumper packages were scrapped in 2013.

It comes after reports the PM - who will hand his resignation to the Queen on Tuesday - is set to skip Tory conference and coin it in with speeches.

Mr Johnson and his wife Carrie have been house-hunting in leafy south London (PA)

The Prime Minister already took two holidays over the summer, and last week a friend said he wanted to "go and put hay in the loft" after privately complaining he was skint.

According to the FT, he has told friends there is a bidding war between the Telegraph, which paid him £275,000 a year he claimed was ‘chicken feed’, and the Daily Mail for his columns.

There is speculation he could revive his career as a history writer or cash in on the after-dinner speaker circuit - which previously rewarded him by up to £47,254 an hour.

Mr Johnson and his wife Carrie have been house-hunting in leafy south London and have set their eyes on a five-bedroom home in Labour-voting Herne Hill, according to the i newspaper.

Ministerial rules banned him from cashing in on speeches while in government - but that restriction is lifted as a back bench MP.

No10 have not confirmed if Mr Johnson will remain as a backbencher, or fight the 2024 election - where he would be defending a 7,210 majority against Labour.

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