Bigger home next on the Boris Johnson list

Boris Johnson wants to make ‘big money’ quickly after leaving Downing Street to afford to buy a new family home in London.

Carrie and Boris Johnson In a post on her private Instagram account.

Boris Johnson wants to make “big money” quickly after leaving Downing Street so that he can afford to buy a new family home in London, according to allies of the outgoing British Prime Minister.

Both his former home in Oxfordshire and the £1.3 million ($2.3m) house in Camberwell, south London, that he jointly owns with his wife, Carrie, are let.

He is said to be looking for a new central London home big enough for his wife and their two young children when he leaves Downing Street in September.

Mr Johnson will stay on as a Tory MP but will make significantly more from the back benches than the £164,080 salary as prime minister. Analysts have suggested that the prime minister could earn more than £3m next year in speaking fees and book deals.

Boris Johnson’s country house in Oxfordshire.

His predecessors in No 10 have been able to command enormous fees for private speeches at corporate events. Theresa May has earned £2.1m in speaking fees since leaving Downing Street in 2019. She has travelled the world and has given speeches in places including Seoul and Copenhagen.

Mr Johnson is expected to command far more. In 2019 he earned £122,899.74 for a speech he made in India after he quit as foreign secretary. He previously earned £275,000 a year as a columnist for The Daily Telegraph and in 2015 received an advance of £88,000 from Hodder & Stoughton for a biography of Shakespeare, to be subtitled The Riddle of Genius. The overall book deal was reported to be as high as £500,000.

The biography was originally scheduled for release in 2016 to tie in with the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, but the publishers agreed to delay publication when Mr Johnson was appointed foreign secretary.

Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister’s former chief adviser, claimed that Mr Johnson made time during the early weeks of the coronavirus crisis to write the book, alleging that the Prime Minister needed the money to help pay for his divorce from Marina Wheeler, the human rights barrister. No 10 denied the allegations.

Boris Johnson’s Camberwell house, centre.

Mr Johnson’s previous book for Hodder & Stoughton, a biography of Winston Churchill called The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History, was a bestseller, although it received a mixed critical reception. A Times review noted its “Bertie Woosterish voice” and said Mr Johnson had written it “with gusto, as if he is being paid by the word”.

The Prime Minister is also said to be considering writing an autobiography. He has kept copious notes throughout his career and is often said to write down his reflections after pivotal days.

It is unclear if he will contest his Uxbridge & South Ruislip seat again, where he won a 7210 majority in 2019. David Cameron stayed on for just two months as MP for Witney after leaving No 10 while Tony Blair resigned immediately as MP for Sedgefield.

Some allies believe Mr Johnson could have another shot at being prime minister if the Conservative Party falls apart under his successor. However, he is still facing an investigation into allegations that he misled the Commons over the Downing Street parties scandal, which could finish his parliamentary career.

Mr Johnson plans to use his time on the backbench to intervene on three subjects: Ukraine, Brexit and levelling up. “He considers these to be his legacy,” an ally said.

The Times