Such political insight did not come cheap, with Johnson earning a salary of £275,000 to work 10 hours a month on his weekly articles. But with the Telegraph’s headlines turning increasingly lukewarm on the Prime Minister following the Partygate scandal, Johnson may have to find a new home if he is to return to journalism after leaving No 10. He may have other options: multiple sources at the Daily Mail have said Johnson has been approached to write a column for the paper once he leaves Downing Street. Such an arrangement could cement the close ties between the Prime Minister and the Mail titles – with potential benefits for all involved. There has been constant speculation that Johnson is preparing to hand a likeness to Paul Dacre – the editor-in-chief of the parent company of the Daily Mail – on his resignation price list. That could reassure Dacre after Johnson failed to secure him the job at media regulator Ofcom. At the same time, the prime minister is looking for new sources of income, as his salary will be halved to £84,000 when he leaves. She also deals with the consequences of an expensive divorce and the cost of supporting multiple children. Downing Street declined to comment on whether the paper had offered Johnson a role, while a spokesman for the Daily Mail did not respond to a request for comment. Johnson had a long association with the Daily Telegraph, where he wrote a weekly column throughout most of his political career. He once described the £275,000 salary for this second job as “chicken feed” – but he may be looking for such scraps of income when he loses the prime ministerial salary. The current strong relationship between Johnson and the Mail is a rapid turnaround from last autumn, when the paper was often critical of the prime minister under former editor Geordie Greig. Greig was replaced by Dacre’s associate Ted Verity, who made his disdain for the previous regime clear. Verity’s wife Joanne Hegarty was friendly with Carrie Johnson – and posted on Instagram that she had been invited to Number 10 by the Prime Minister’s wife. In recent months the Mail has staunchly defended the Prime Minister over the Partygate scandal, ran relentlessly attacking Tory MPs who criticized Johnson and done everything possible to ensure Liz Truss beat Rishi Sunak to become Prime Minister . To the end, the Mail continued to support Johnson even as other Tory-backed publications questioned the prime minister’s ability to stay in power. When he was finally forced to resign by Tory MPs, the paper ran a front page asking: “What the hell did they do?” On Monday, the Mail ran a front-page op-ed calling on Tory MPs to drop the House of Commons privilege committee inquiry into Johnson. Killing the inquiry would make it easier for Johnson to pursue other lucrative income streams – and ensure he is not thrown out of parliament in a recall election. The Prime Minister is in line for millions of pounds in speaking fees after leaving office, as well as money from his long-delayed Shakespeare biography. He is also looking for a new home after putting the Camberwell home he owns with his wife on the market for £1.6 million. If Johnson joins the Daily Mail, he will end a long-standing relationship with the Daily Telegraph, which gave him a second chance as a young journalist after he was sacked by the Times for fabricating a quote. Johnson became the Telegraph’s star Brussels correspondent – writing stories about absurd EU regulations that paved the way for Brexit – before returning home to become a political columnist and enter politics. However, in recent months the Telegraph has been less than supportive of the Prime Minister, publishing critical stories and far less enthusiastic editorials than the Daily Mail.
