British PM Johnson reportedly mulls resigning in 6 months…because of low salary

The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is allegedly considering leaving his post next spring because he supposedly struggles to live on a salary of £150,402 a year, according to British media.

Johnson plans to leave office as soon as he gets Brexit done and navigates the nation through the worst period of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Daily Mirror reported, adding that the prime minister apparently believes he can pull that off in some six months.

The reason for such an early departure? According to some unnamed Tory MPs that talked to the Mirror, it is all because the prime minister finds his salary underwhelming, even in comparison to his previous occupation.

The sources told the newspaper Johnson privately complained about being unable to live on £150,402 ($194,244) a year. The article also suggests that he simply cannot get past the idea that his predecessor, Theresa May, who also resigned early after her own Brexit deal was rejected by parliament, has since earned £1 million on lecture circuits. Boris reportedly believes he could earn at least twice as much by doing the same.

In fact, he did earn £160,000 from holding just two speeches in one month shortly before he became prime minister. That is not to mention that Boris also enjoyed a steady income of £23,000 per month as a Daily Telegraph columnist, which translates into £275,000 a year.

Back in 2019, when Johnson was about to take the position of prime minister, the Sunday Times reported that his income would fall from a total of £829,000 – which he had earned over the past year by combining his salaries as an MP and a columnist with earnings from public speeches and book royalties – to the standard prime minister’s salary of £150,402 a year, which he earns now.

Many of Johnson’s children, including his six-month-old son Wilfred, still need financial support, one of the MPs who talked to the Mirror noted, adding that he also has to pay his ex-wife Marina Wheeler a significant part of his income as part of their divorce deal.

Even though Johnson himself allegedly does not consider his position rewarding enough, there is still apparently no shortage of those willing to take his place. According to the Mirror, the list of potential candidates for the job includes Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, Cabinet Office head Michael Gove, as well as former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and ex-Defence Minister Penny Mordaunt.

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