London, Thanasis Gavos

Opposition MPs in Britain criticized Boris Johnson for the very high earnings from extra-parliamentary activities while his appearances in the House of Commons are limited.

According to figures analyzed by Sky News, the former prime minister has already earned £3.7m since the start of 2023, on top of his £84,000-a-year parliamentary salary and the six-figure allowance that all former prime ministers are entitled to.

This is an amount that corresponds to 85% of the money that all 650 MPs have earned from extra-parliamentary activities since the beginning of the year.

Still charging more than £1m per speech, Mr Johnson has earned a total of £6.1m since he resigned as prime minister last September, including sums for hosting him at friends’ homes for years.

Although he remains an MP representing the west London constituency, Boris Johnson has spoken in the House of Commons only 16 times in ten sittings.

Labour’s shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson commented that as an elected MP “perhaps Mr Johnson should be making these speeches in the House of Commons”.

He added: “Boris Johnson is just doing what he wants. He always does what he wants. I think the occasional reference to his doings reminds us how corrupt the Conservative Party has become.”

However, it is noted that there is no suspicion of a violation of parliamentary rules and that Mr. Johnson has submitted the relevant declarations to the register of interests and income.

Stephen Dorrell, a current Lib Dem MP and former Conservative minister of state, commented that Mr Johnson should ask himself: “is he still in politics or has he gone into show business?”