"There are mounting questions over whether Johnson has been misusing his portion of the 5.2m in public funds that has been paid out since 2015 as part of a scheme to support former prime ministers. Leaked files from the Office of Boris Johnson, a limited company, show his private office staff helping him exploit contacts made in No 10 to secure business deals."
"Cross-party senior politicians have been calling for Johnson's taxpayer support to be suspended in the wake of the revelations. Johnson's private office receives funding from the public duty costs allowance (PDCA), which is afforded to all prime ministers to assist with their public duties after leaving Downing Street. PDCA funds are not supposed to be used for private or commercial activities. Former prime ministers can claim up to 115,000 a year for the remainder of their lifetime."
"Official data shows he has claimed 182,000 in PDCA payments since leaving government. A cache of leaked files seen by the Guardian suggests all three of Johnson's private office staff have supported his commercial activities. Johnson has been using his office to broker deals worth millions with foreign governments, the files indicate. The files were obtained by Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoS), a US-registered non-profit that archives leaked data."
Three former prime ministers said they do not use a taxpayer subsidy for their private office for any commercial work. Gordon Brown called for rules requiring former prime ministers to publicly declare business interests and for a crackdown on jobs taken by former ministers. Brown, Tony Blair and Liz Truss said they only claimed reimbursements related solely to public duties. PDCA funds, intended to assist former prime ministers with public duties, totalled 5.2m paid since 2015 and allow up to 115,000 a year for life. Official data shows Johnson claimed 182,000, and leaked files suggest his private office supported his commercial deals.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]