Colin D Gordon

10 Downing Street

Which is better? To be a current or former British Prime Minister? According to the Daily Mail correspondent Simon Walters, the present (for now) occupant of the position, Boris Johnson, has found it “ a lot harder work and less fun” than he’d anticipated. Although he’s doggedly resisted the political and media pressure to resign following the revelations about the innumerable parties at his official 10 Downing Street residence during the pandemic, Johnson apparently doesn’t want to “go on and on” indefinitely. On the contrary, contends Walters, he’s anxious to get back to writing and making money.

Johnson is entitled to a salary of £79, 936 pa as PM and an additional £81,932 pa as the Member of Parliament for his Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency. This total of £157, 372 pa is significantly lower than the approximate annual amounts paid to US President Joe Biden (£298.000), Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (£199,000) and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (£275,000) as well as the reputed weekly income of footballers such as Manchester United’s Ronaldo (£874,000), Chelsea’s Timo Werner (£271,000), Tottenham’s Harry Kane (£200,000) & Son Heung-Min (£140,000).                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Son Heung-Min

On 9^th December, BBC News cited parliamentary statistics indicating that, prior to joining the Government in July 2016 as Foreign Secretary, Johnson enjoyed a profitable career as a public speaker – for instance, £122,899.74 for a speech to “India Today” on 2^nd March 2019 – as well as receiving £275,000 per annum as a columnist for the Daily Telegraph. Fortunately for him, so politics.co.uk has observed, this drop in his earnings “is likely to be temporary”. Not only will he, as an ex-PM, be able to command in excess of £100,000 for giving lectures and sign a lucrative book deal, he will also benefit from the “Public Duty Cost Allowance” (PDCA) system set up in 1991 by one of his predecessors, Sir John Major (PM: 1990-1997). This enables former Prime Ministers to claim up to £115,000 pa for the rest of their lives to reimburse the expenses incurred for office and secretarial costs “arising from their special position in public life”.

An analysis conducted by the “National World” contributor Ethan Stone of accounts published by the Cabinet Office has indicated that former PM’s have accrued more than £2.5 million from the PDCA since 2015: Sir John Major : £574.935, Sir Tony Blair (PM: 1997-2007), £574.838, Gordon Brown (PM: 2007-2010) £573.542, David Cameron (PM: 2010-2016) £383.641, Theresa May (PM:2016-2019) £34.386. They are also given lifelong armed protection by the S01 (Specialist Protection Branch of the Metropolitan Police Service), likewise funded by taxpayers in Britain.

Although Government ministers invariably refuse to give details of the costs on the grounds that this could “compromise the safety of the individuals concerned”, there have been complaints, for instance, that S01 officers have stayed in 5-star hotels with the Blairs and that David Cameron was once accompanied by 10 S01 bodyguards while on a family holiday visit to a beach in Cornwall.

Prince of Wales with bodyguards.

Security for the Royal Family is provided by the S014 (Royal Protection Group). The “senior members” – the Queen, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are guarded 24/7 – but Princess Anne, Prince Edward and his wife Sophie Wessex only when they are on official duties. The Sun journalist, Alex Winter, reported on 16^th January that the Duke of York, Prince Andrew, won’t for the moment forfeit his £300,000-a-year security detail despite no longer being able to use the title of “His Royal Highness” (HRH), although his daughters Beatrice and Eugenie had their £500,000 pa police protection removed in 2011 because they weren’t working royals and had full-time jobs.

Piers Morgan on BBC Sunday Morning.

Meanwhile, Prince Harry recently announced that he will challenge in the High Court the refusal of the Home Office to allow him to pay Scotland Yard to protect his family whenever they are in the UK. This was greeted with derision by the polemical broadcaster, Piers Morgan on the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme on 16^th January. In his view, Harry is now a private citizen, he and Meghan are “making hundreds of millions of dollars fleecing their royal titles despite not carrying out any royal duties and want to have their cake and eat it as always”. Dai Davies, a former S01 chief superintendent, similarly pointed out to the Daily Mail that “You can’t just hire the services of Scotland Yard as and when you feel like it”.

If Prince Harry loses his judicial review, he can always turn to a private organisation such as Westminster Security. They specify the typical outlay for a bodyguard in London and throughout the UK as being between £500 – £1000 for a 12-hour day, plus expenses and VAT where applicable. They emphasise that the fee can be affected by factors such as the age, height and build of the bodyguard, whether they are ex-military, ex-police or civilian and possess additional skills such as languages, advanced driving qualifications or medical training.

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