Why Boris Johnson will out-earn David Cameron when he leaves No 10

Claims that David Cameron took home £7m from Greensill Capital before it went bust have left some flabbergasted, but Sean O’Grady explains why Boris Johnson can look forward to an even larger windfall when he leaves office

Next stop untold riches... (Getty)

The revelation that, despite everything, David Cameron managed to make £7m out of Greensill Capital during his time with the controversial finance group before it went bust has, as they say, raised eyebrows. Most eyebrows were elevated because of the nature of Cameron’s duties, as a sort of glorified telesales rep, because of the way he was cashing in on his time in “public service”, because of the way the company was run, and because, by most people’s standards, such income is beyond their dreams. Boris Johnson’s eyebrows were likely not raised at all, or if they were raised it was because the sums reported are so paltry. Johnson, reportedly, “needs a million quid a year just to get by”, and famously finds living on his prime ministerial and MP’s total salary of £157,352 a year very tough indeed. Again, that puts him in the very top 1 per cent of income taxpayers in the UK and, with some additional income he may receive from book royalties and interests in family properties or savings, he might even cross the £236,000 or so required to put him in the top 0.5 per cent of UK taxpayers.

It’s not enough, though, for a man with the commitments, tastes and expectations of Boris Johnson, who has always been well-off and, as is well documented, has mixed in the poshest of circles. He appears to want to support his many children and, where appropriate, add to whatever natural advantages they possess by securing them expensive private educations and holidays. His recent divorce will have reduced his means and destabilised his often chaotic finances. During a well-publicised stand-up row with his then-girlfriend now-wife Carrie Symonds, she scolded him for having no understanding about money, and no one has disputed the substance of that claim. That said, Johnson has acquired a reputation for being mean with money and never having bought a round of drinks. As the recent investigations into the refurbishment of the Downing Street flat and his last holiday in the Caribbean demonstrate, his default position is that someone loses – friends, colleagues, acquaintances, an employer, the taxpayer, or some vague party benefactor will pick up the tab. Even for a man who has spent such a long time as journalist, he has a taste for freebies, and the more extravagant the better.

The plain fact is that, as in most things, Johnson is eyeing his time as an ex-prime minister just as excitedly as he did getting the job in the first place. He will, as a matter of personal pride, seek to exceed the earnings of the likes of Cameron and Theresa May, substantial as they have been. May is able to command fees for speeches of around £100,000 to £150,000 a pop, and it is fair to say she’s a less amusing raconteur than Johnson, though she has relaxed and developed a dry sort of wit since she resigned. Last year she made more than £1m. He might even try to emulate the earnings power of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, who received many millions for their respective memoirs, appearances, advisory posts and the like, though both, like Gordon Brown, tended to plough their income into their various foundations as much as using it for their personal costs.

When Johnson became prime minister in 2019 he was already extremely well remunerated, and took a “pay cut” of £670,000. In the 12 months to July 2019, he pulled in some £829,255, including fees for speeches (one for £122,899 for a talk at a publishing company in India), and his contract of £275,000 a year for writing his columns in The Telegraph. These were estimated by Johnson to take only 10 hours a month, equating to more than £2,000 per hour or about £5 a word. Johnson also gets £10,000 to £20,000 from book royalties (such as his biography of Winston Churchill). His former marital home in Islington was sold for £3.7m and he and Carrie subsequently bought a home in Camberwell, south London for £1.9m. He has put up a former constituency home in Henley for around £4,000 a month.

So he’s not poor by most standards, but does feel the need to make some money. He could easily outstrip most if not all of his predecessors by turbocharging his activities. His value as a newspaper columnist would be greatly boosted by his experiences in office, so that’s an excellent place to start. He is a fine writer, and a quick one (they amount to the same thing), and his articles and speeches would be livelier than most. He’d have no need to pay for a ghostwriter, though an industrious researcher would be required.

Prime ministerial memoirs are also worth big money, though the modern pressure, as Cameron discovered, is to give the “proceeds” to charity (whether this includes the bumper advance is not always clear). Blair got around £5m for his well-written reflections and candid thoughts, for example, and Johnson would be hoping to top that. There will be a premium on freshness, and Johnson will probably finish his in record time, whether they embarrass his successors or not.

The PM has already penned a few books – a memoir about his time in office would no doubt boost his post-No 10 earnings (Getty)

They should make for interesting reading. He has, after all, been at the top of politics since he became mayor of London in 2008, and would probably need a couple of volumes to do his eventful, mischievous life full service – including the Brexit Leave campaign, a couple of vicious Tory leadership campaigns, a near-death experience with Covid, his personal affairs (he has previously been shy about those, but you never know), the Bullingdon club and Eton, and his relationships with the likes of Donald Trump. Usually former ministers are required to submit their autobiographies for official vetting, but we may be sure Johnson will push the conventions on official secrets and confidentiality to the limits and beyond. The gossip should be of unparalleled quality, but how much of Johnson’s account of his lives can be believed remains to be tested.

The trend for youngish prime ministers also means that, like Blair and Cameron, Johnson, with a new young family, will need to amass a considerable fortune to see him the rest of his time on Earth and through a time when he goes out of fashion and his reputation sinks. The state though will not forget him. He gets a car and driver for the rest of his days (an innovation quietly brought in by Harold Wilson in 1975 shortly before he retired), and he can claim on the state to pay for the costs of his public duties as a former premier, the allowance brought in by John Major in 1991. Johnson and his family can also rely on 24/7 personal security and, in due course, an earnings-related MP/ministerial/mayoral pension.

Not all past prime ministers have been dedicated to getting rich, either on their own account or in building up “foundations” to give themselves a new purpose in life. Some past prime ministers have ended up in financial hardship (Harold Wilson and HH Asquith). Others had private wealth or semi-retired back to a family business (Harold Macmillan to the eponymous publishing house, Jim Callaghan to his farm). Some have spouses who were monied or earned plenty in their own right (such as Lady Dorothy Macmillan, daughter of a duke, or the barrister Cherie Booth). The most extravagant and money-grubbing, at least before Johnson, was actually Churchill. His liking for money-pit old houses (notably Chartwell), cigars, champagne, exotic vacations, fine dining and exquisite tailoring meant he was a virtual bankrupt by the outbreak of war; but by the 1950s, generous, grateful friends and his own literary abilities made him a securely wealthy man for the first time in his life. Maybe the same will be true of Johnson.