Boris Johnson breached government rules with Daily Mail gig, watchdog says

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson breached the U.K.’s ministerial code by accepting a columnist job for the Daily Mail without waiting for the opinion of the committee in charge of assessing former officials’ new positions.

The U.K.’s Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) said that Johnson was in “clear breach”of government rules outlined in a so-called “ministerial code” as he didn’t wait for the committee’s decision before accepting the new job.

“The ministerial code states that ministers must ensure that no new appointments are announced, or taken up, before the committee has been able to provide its advice,” ACOBA said in a statement reported by the BBC and other media. “An application received 30 minutes before an appointment is announced is a clear breach,” ACOBA said.

In his first column published on Friday afternoon, Johnson wrote about his attempts to lose weight with an appetite-suppressing drug and quoted Julius Caesar.

A spokesperson for Johnson was quoted in British press saying that “Boris Johnson is in touch with Acoba and the normal process is being followed.”

Johnson’s return to journalism, anticipated by POLITICO London Playbook, could earn him a “very high six-figure sum” to write the column, according to one person with knowledge of the file.