Taxpayers are set to be billed more than a million pounds for Boris Johnson ’s new lawyers, after he sacked the government-provided legal team defending him at the Covid-19 inquiry.
Labour last night said it was “outrageous” that hard-working taxpayers will continue to pay Mr Johnson’s legal bills, as he “rakes in millions from globe-trotting speaking gigs”.
Mr Johnson cut ties with the law firm hired by the Cabinet Office after his diaries were passed to the Met and Thames Valley Police over alleged lockdown rule breaking at Downing Street and Chequers.
Speaking yesterday in Washington DC yesterday, Mr Johnson said the allegations were "a load of absolute nonsense".
He’s said he believes he’s the victim of a “stitch-up” - but declined yesterday to say who he thought was behind it.
He added: "For reasons that - somebody, somewhere, thinks it's sensible to do this - I don't."
Top firm Pinsent Masons were hired with a budget of £7m to defend Mr Johnson and other cabinet office ministers at the Covid-19 public inquiry.
It’s understood the contract will remain in place for the rest of the department, but a new one will be drawn up specifically for Mr Johnson’s new, hand-picked legal firm.
Whitehall sources said the cost of additional lawyers to defend Mr Johnson was expected to be more than £1 million.
The taxpayer is already on the hook for more than £250,000 in fees for lawyers to defend Mr Johnson in a probe by the Commons privileges committee, where he denied lying to Parliament over a single day of questioning.
But the Covid inquiry’s hearings are expected to run for weeks, and relate to events that took place over a much longer period of time - incurring much higher legal bills.
The Cabinet Office insists there is an “established precedent across multiple administrations that former Ministers may be supported with legal representation after they have left office when matters relate to their time and conduct as a Minister.”
But there is no precedent for a minister sacking his government appointed legal team and insisting on one of his own.
“The public will be shocked that they're still paying Boris Johnson’s legal bills while he rakes in millions from globe-trotting speaking gigs,” Angela Rayner, Labour’s Deputy Leader said.
"Having apparently sacked lawyers already paid for by the taxpayer, it would be outrageous for him to expect the public to pick up yet another eye-watering new bill for his own private legal team.
"His shameless demands have been tolerated by the Prime Minister for far too long. Rishi Sunak must make it clear that he will put a stop to this unacceptable arrangement once and for all.”
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: "Information came to light during the process of preparing evidence for submission to the Covid Inquiry. It was identified as part of the normal disclosure review of potentially relevant documents being undertaken by the legal team for inquiry witnesses. In-line with obligations in the Civil Service Code, this material has been passed to the relevant authorities and it is now a matter for them."
They added: “The Cabinet Office has not made any assessment or conducted any investigation of the material that has been passed to the police. Ministers played no role in deciding whether the information should be handed over to the police.
“The police were first contacted on 16th May prior to any Minister being made aware. The decision to contact the police and the subsequent decision to share the information was not made by Ministers but by officials acting in line with the Civil Service Code."
