Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is currently a columnist for the Daily Mail, the paper said on Friday, returning to a career in journalism where he has written for several leading British publications but has never been far from controversy.
Johnson, 58, who stepped down as MP last week amid an investigation that found him guilty of deliberately misleading Parliament about parties during the COVID-19 lockdown, will write for the Daily Mail every Saturday , according to the newspaper.
“Whether you are a fan of Boris or not, he is sure to be read – both in Westminster and for millions of people around the world,” the newspaper says.
Since stepping down as prime minister last year, Johnson, one of Britain’s most famous and divisive politicians, has earned millions of pounds from tour appearances.
His return to journalism is expected to be a lucrative new job and will offer the former leader the opportunity to work for one of the UK’s most widely read right-wing newspapers so he can speak his mind about the government and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
He resigned as legislator, sharply attacking a parliamentary committee, which ruled that he had deliberately misled parliament with his reports of rules-breaking parties dubbed “party gates”. Parliament will decide whether to approve the committee’s findings on Monday.
He also used his statement to strike at Sunak, saying the country needed “the right conservative government” that would cut business and personal taxes.
Johnson, no stranger to scandal, began his working life in journalism but was fired by the Times for fabricating a quote. He continued his career at The Daily Telegraph, where, as a correspondent in Brussels, he was highly critical of the European Union in vivid, though not always accurate, prose.
Later, he pursued a parallel media and political career as editor of the Spectator magazine and Member of Parliament, and wrote a regular column for the Daily Telegraph before becoming Prime Minister. In this column, he was often criticized for his views – he was accused of Islamophobia when he said that Muslim women in veils looked like mailboxes or bank robbers.
