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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Lizzy Buchan

Boris Johnson boasts he'll cash in on career 'hiatus' despite still being an MP

Boris Johnson has boasted he'll cash in on the "unexpected hiatus" in his career - despite still being an MP.

In a rambling article in the Spectator, the ousted Prime Minister said that "one of the joys of a recent career change" is he now has time to recite Classical texts as he goes on long jogs around London.

The greedy dad-of-seven, who has trousered £1million in speeches since he was chucked out, compared the plague at the start of the Iliad - Homer's epic poem from 8th Century BC - to Covid.

And Mr Johnson then suggested he would start doing "lucrative" theatrical renditions of classic poem s after being forced out of Downing Street.

Being an MP is regarded as a full-time job, with a basic salary of £84,144 per year.

Mr Johnson wrote: "Never mind doing podcasts or TV. I propose to fill this unexpected hiatus in my career with vast lucrative theatrical renditions of these great texts, in ascending chronological order.

"It’s going to be called ‘A Totally Epic Performance’. I expect you will laugh and say that no one will come. I say, who cares. You read it here first."

His spokesman did not respond to queries for clarity on what on earth he was talking about.

Boris Johnson has raked in more than £1million for speeches since leaving office (Getty Images)

The shamed former PM has trousered more than £1million for speeches since leaving office in September.

His latest entry in the register of members' interests shows he pocketed more than £750,000 for three speeches last month - but he still lives rent-free in a billionaire Tory donor’s house.

Mr Johnson was paid £277,723.89 to speak to investment bankers Centerview Partners in New York, while Hindustan Times paid him another £261,652.34 for a speech and VIP reception in New Delhi, India.

Portuguese TV channel Televisao Independente paid £215,275.98 for him to speak at the CNN Global Summit in Lisbon.

For each trip, the ex-PM was gifted the use of Heathrow Airport’s VIP terminal, known as the Windsor Suite, at a cost of £1,800 per trip.

He has also now accepted free accommodation worth £40,500 from Lady Bamford, the wife of JCB boss Lord Anthony Bamford, in the four months since he left No10.

Mr Johnson and his family are believed to be staying at a luxury cottage on the Bamford's Cotswolds estate, where they also held their wedding party this summer.

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