What is Boris Johnson’s Net Worth?
Boris Johnson is a British politician who was recently the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party.
Johnson has earned his wealth through his speaking engagements, writing (he is the author of several books), real estate transactions and his careers in journalism and politics.
As the current serving Prime Minister, he is entitled to an annual salary of £161,401, placing him in the top 1% of earners in the UK.
Boris Johnson has an estimated net worth of £2.9million
Early Life
Alexander Boris de Pfefel Johnson was born on June 19 1964 in Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
His father, Stanley Johnson, was an Englishman studying economics in the City at Columbia University at the time of his birth.
His mother, Charlotte Fawcett, was a talented painter who had decided to postpone her English studies at Oxford to accompany her husband to the U.S.
As a child, Johnson lived in New York City, London and Brussels before attending a boarding school in England. He won a scholarship to Eton College and later studied classics at Balliol College, Oxford, where he became President of the Oxford Union in 1986.
Boris Johnson the Journalist
Johnson started his career as a journalist in 1987, working initially for The Times as a graduate trainee, a position he was later fired from when it emerged he had lied about a quote in one of his articles for the newspaper.
Johnson then secured employment at The Daily Telegraph and from 1994, he served as Assistant Editor for the broadsheet and later worked as editor of The Spectator from 1999 to 2005.
Boris Johnson the Politician
Along with journalism, Boris had a keen interest in politics and he was elected to the House of Commons in 2001.
Due to the retirement of Tory stalwart Michael Heseltine, Johnson decided to stand as Conservative candidate for his safe Conservative seat of Henley in Oxfordshire. Johnson went on to win the seat in the 2001 general election with a majority of 8,500 votes.
He later became Vice-chairman for the Conservative party in 2003 and the Shadow Minister for Arts in 2004. In 2005, Johnson became the shadow minister for Higher Education until 2007.
In 2008, he defeated Labour’s Ken Livingstone and became the Mayor of London. He oversaw the 2012 London Olympic games, introduced a cycle hire scheme and banned alcohol on London public transport. In 2012, Johnson was re-elected as the Mayor of London, again defeating Ken Livingstone.
In May 2015, Johnson became the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, earning him a salary of £79,468. He resigned as Mayor of London the following year.
Johnson backed the successful Vote Leave Brexit campaign of 2015–2016, which eventually led to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (EU) at midnight on 31 January 2020.
Becoming Leader of the Conservative Party
Boris Johnson was elected to the party leadership in July 2019 following the resignation of Theresa May as Prime Minister. Prior to this, he was Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 2016 to 2018
Queen Elizabeth II appointed Johnson as Prime Minister on 24 July 2019.
Johnson later went on to lead the Tory party to its biggest parliamentary victory since 1987 in the 2019 general election, winning the largest share of any party since 1979.
Johnson is the second Prime Minister in British history to be born outside of the British Isles. The first was Andrew Bonar Law, born in Canada and served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1922 to May 1923.
Boris Johnson’s Income and Net Worth
Johnson’s salary entitlement as The Prime Minister was £161,401 per year, plus additional benefits including a supplementary salary for specific responsibilities, the use of the Prime Minister’s apartment at 10 Downing Street, the country house at Chequers and chauffeur-driven transport.
However, although this salary placed him in the top 1% of wage earners in the United Kingdom, the salary is less than a twentieth of the median take-home pay of many Chief Executives of top UK companies and is less than the salaries earned by other world leaders.
Before taking the role as Prime Minister, Johnson earned £275,000 per annum for writing columns with the Daily Telegraph.
Johnson has also authored at least four books during his career and between September 2017 and June 2019 he took £49,642.78 in book royalties and advances. Between November 2018 and June 2019 he also earned £450,475.21 for ten speaking engagements.
Boris Johnson has also made money from his property and real estate dealings. He reportedly sold the family marital home in Islington, North London for £3.7m three months after becoming PM and bought a £1.3m Camberwell townhouse in South London with his wife, Carrie Symonds.
Personal Life
Boris Johnson’s personal life would make a great novel all on its own.
Although Johnson was baptised a Catholic, he was later confirmed into the Church of England and states that his faith ”comes and goes”.
Johnson has been married three times and has six children. His first wife was Allegra Mostyn-Owen (1987–1993), 12 days after his divorce from Allegra, he married Marina Wheeler (1993 – 2020), with whom he had four children. In 2021, he married former Tory communications director Carrie Symonds, with whom he has one child and another due in December.
Boris has also fathered a daughter with arts consultant Helen Macintyre, with whom he had an affair in 2009 whilst still married to Marina.
Summary
How rich is Boris Johnson?
Boris Johnson currently has a net worth of £2.9 million. This figure, however, is expected to rise in the future due to his several high-paying income sources.
It is expected that he will develop other money-making schemes now he has left office. Most former Prime Ministers sign very lucrative book deals and continue with highly paid speaking engagements.
