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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Millie Cooke

Boris Johnson charging fans £121 each for meet and greet

Boris Johnson is charging fans £121.25 each for a meet and greet before an event in Edinburgh.

The former prime minister, who will appear on 2 September at Usher Hall, will pose for photographs and shake the hands of guests who stump up the fee, before speaking at an event titled An Evening with Boris Johnson.

Tickets for the main event cost between £53.90 and £159.90, charged in addition to the meet and greet fee.

The event’s description praises Mr Johnson for bringing the Tory party to “an extraordinary election victory”, leading Britain “through the darkest days of the pandemic”, as well as “shattering the political and parliamentary deadlock” triggered by Brexit.

“Under Mr Johnson’s leadership, the UK restored sovereign control over its borders, economy and lawmaking, finally enacting the will of the British people”, it reads.

The event description adds: “More recently, Mr Johnson emerged as the pre-eminent global leader in the effort to support Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion.”

It comes after the former prime minister intervened over Ukraine on Wednesday evening, after US president Donald Trump came under fire for branding Volodymyr Zelensky a dictator and wrongly suggesting Ukraine started the war with Russia.

Mr Johnson said the US president’s statements on Ukraine - which were the latest in a series of controversial interventions by the Trump administration - “are not intended to be historically accurate, but to shock Europeans into action”.

“Of course Ukraine didn’t start the war. You might as well say that America attacked Japan at Pearl Harbor.

“Of course a country undergoing a violent invasion should not be staging elections. There was no general election in the UK from 1935 to 1945. “

Of course Zelensky’s ratings are not 4 per cent. They are actually about the same as Trump’s”, he posted to social media.

The details of his latest meet and greet come just days after allies of the former PM told The Telegraph he is eyeing up a political comeback.

Friends of Mr Johnson claimed he was growing bored of life away from Westminster and is said to be “watching and waiting” on how politics and the fate of the Conservative Party unfolds.

But when contacted by the newspaper, he said: “I’m working flat out on writing some books and building a new kitchen.”

Mr Johnson’s office has been contacted for comment.

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