He’s only just left Parliament, but Boris Johnson already has a new job. The former Prime Minister is going to be a columnist on the Daily Mail. The outlet confirmed the news with a video that rather resembled a football team signing a new striker:
📰 We are delighted to announce Boris Johnson as our new columnist
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) June 16, 2023
Famed as one of the wittiest and most original writers in the business, Boris’s column will appear in the Daily Mail every Saturday and you’ll be able to get a preview on MailOnline and The Mail+ on Fridays pic.twitter.com/76uETBRmnF
There was also an excitable piece on Mail+, the paywalled part of MailOnline. The appointment had already been rather unsubtly hinted on the front of the paper this morning.
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This all comes in the same week that the House of Commons Privileges Committee blasted Johnson for his comments to Parliament about the Partygate scandal and his conduct towards the committee itself. It said had he not already quit as an MP it would have recommended Johnson be suspended from Parliament for a staggering 90 days. Furthermore, the MPs recommended that Johnson not receive a former members pass giving him access to the Parliamentary estate. These are hugely serious sanctions almost without precedent.
You can listen to me discussing this all with my co-host Emma Burnell on the “House of Comments” podcasts:
None of it seems to have put off the Daily Mail, though. It has presumably forked out a huge sum for the privilege of Johnson’s words.