Boris Johnson’s new lawyers are expected to cost taxpayers more than £1 million, it has been revealed.
The former prime minister 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.
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 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 employed thus far.
But it’s not the first time the Conservative MP has squandered millions of pounds in taxpayer’s money.
In fact, he has quite the record:
Garden Bridge Project
Boris Johnson, during his tenure as Mayor of London, supported the Garden Bridge project, a proposed pedestrian bridge across the River Thames. The project was ultimately abandoned in 2017 after significant public funds were spent on its development, including approximately £43 million of taxpayer money.
Thames Estuary Airport
In 2014, this newspaper revealed that plans for an airport in the Thames Estuary had cost £3.2 million to develop. Not only was the proposed site home to Europe’s biggest LNG importation terminal and the largest above-ground storage tanks of their kind in the world, it was also utterly impractical from an aviation perspective. Richard Deakin, chief executive of the National Air Traffic Services (Nats), dubbed the proposed location the ‘very worst spot’ for the south-east’s crowded airspace, adding there were ‘serious challenges’ in working more planes into an already busy flight path. Boris Island would fall under flight paths for four of London’s five airports, avoiding London Southend, which would be surplus to requirement anyway.
No-Deal Brexit Preparations
The potential costs associated with the preparations for a no-deal Brexit have also been a subject of debate. Johnson, as Prime Minister, advocated for a “do or die” Brexit approach and allocated significant funds to prepare for the possibility of leaving the European Union without a deal. Critics argue that this money could have been used for other pressing domestic priorities. In 2019, the government announced an extra £2.1 billion of funding to prepare for a no-deal Brexit – doubling the amount of money it has set aside previously. Of course, a deal was eventually struck, as to avoid one would have been economic suicide.
COVID-19 Response
The UK government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has faced scrutiny regarding the allocation of funds. Some critics have argued that contracts for supplies and services related to the pandemic were awarded to companies with close ties to the government, potentially resulting in wasteful spending and lack of transparency. Up to £4 billion was believed to have been spent on PPE that is so useless it has to be burnt.
Flat Refurbishment
There have been allegations and controversies surrounding the funding of the refurbishment of Boris Johnson’s official residence at 10 Downing Street. Questions have been raised about the source of funds used and potential conflicts of interest. Investigations into the matter are ongoing, and it is important to note that no conclusive evidence of taxpayer money being directly used for the refurbishment has been proven at the time of my knowledge cutoff in September 2021. But at £840 a roll of wallpaper, it gives you a measure of the man.
Related: ‘We’re in the death throes of the last-ever Tory majority’ – Tice