You report on the considerable enrichment of Boris Johnson from contacts he made while he was prime minister and his claims from the public duty costs allowance (What are the Boris Files and what do they reveal about former PM’s conduct?, 8 September). The PDCA payments are not supposed to be for work done or staff or travel costs incurred by former prime ministers seeking to enrich themselves personally with business deals, speeches or books.
However, unlike with MPs, no breakdown of “costs” is published. How does the National Audit Office know that costs are fairly apportioned between whatever the duties of a former prime minister are supposed to be and the business activities of those MPs? How can Johnson’s three years as PM before being sacked, or Liz Truss’s 49 days in office, justify a lifetime allowance of £115,000 per annum?
Chris Rennard
Liberal Democrat, House of Lords
• Your report on Boris Johnson and other living former prime ministers’ annual payments of £115,000 for public duty costs allowance is easily resolved. It can be means-tested, as the winter fuel allowance is for pensioners.
David Ellis
Comberton, Cambridgeshire
• Boris Johnson scornfully suggests that the Guardian should change its name to Pravda (Report, 9 September). Yes indeed: pravda translates as “truth”.
Richard McNicol
Sherston, Wiltshire
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