Boris Johnson has been accused of profiting from contacts and influence he made during his time as prime minister, according to revelations in thousands of leaked documents.
On Monday, the Guardian published a series of stories about Johnson based on leaked files provided by a non-profit organisation.
The documents suggest the former Tory leader used contacts he made whilst in office to fund his life after leaving Number 10, possibly breaching ethics and lobbying rules.
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The Guardian reports that Johnson used a publicly subsidised company “manage an array of highly paid jobs and business ventures.” The company was established after he left Downing Street, but raise questions over whether Johnson breached “revolving door” rules governing post-ministerial careers.
Among the allegations are that Johnson lobbied a senior Saudi official he met while in office to share a pitch with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and that he was paid more than £200,000 after meeting with Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.
The files, obtained by US-registered non-profit Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoS), mostly concern the period from September 2022 until July 2024, after Johnson was ousted as prime minister.
Some of the files relate to his time in office though, and suggest Johnson may have breached yet more Covid lockdown rules by hosting a dinner for a Tory peer who financed a lavish refurbishment of his Downing Street flat.
Following the revelations, the Lib Dems have called for Johnson to be stripped of his access to the public duty costs allowance (PDCA), which is intended to help former prime ministers who are still active in public life.
The allowance offers former PMs up to £115,000 a year to cover office and secretarial costs arising from public duties, and is not supposed to be used for private or commercial activities.
But by running his limited company, the Office of Boris Johnson, Johnson may have blurred the lines over what he used the PDCA, and whether he broke these rules.
Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office spokesperson Sarah Olney MP said: “These allegations are extremely shocking. This is yet another reminder of how deep the rot in the Conservative Party goes – it is riddled by sleaze and scandal.
“The government must suspend Boris Johnson’s access to the former prime minister public duty costs allowance pending a full and proper investigation.”