The book deal came with an £88,000 advance, but the publisher later “agreed that we would delay publication until a more appropriate time” after his appointment as Foreign Secretary. Guto Harry, Johnson’s communications director, denied rumors that he was taking notes from his five months in Downing Street with the intention of publishing a memoir. Sir Tony Blair’s memoir, A Journey, is believed to have earned him up to £5m, while his spin doctor Alastair Campbell has written an eight-volume diary of his time in office and beyond. Another option would be for Mr Johnson to return to after-dinner speaking, which previously earned him £50,000 in a single evening. “Like most of his predecessors, from Churchill to Blair, he will be in great demand outside his own country,” said his former agent, Jeremy Lee. “In commercial terms, Johnson is a global brand with a reputation for colorful speeches – I can see audiences from the US to Asia in the palm of my hand.” A government source added wryly: “If Theresa May is making £60 per speech then I think Boris will probably be fine.”
Hope remains
Although the Tory leadership contest to decide his successor has now consumed Westminster, there are those who still believe Johnson has not made his last political move.
