Where Next for Boris? Johnson's Many Choices of New Career Move
18:27 GMT 05.09.2022 (Updated: 15:20 GMT 28.05.2023)
© AP Photo / Leon Neal
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Outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is a veritable Jack of all trades. He has worked in business consultancy and the media and held office at several levels of government — sometimes two at once. As PM he got into the habit of trying out other people's jobs while on official visits.
With Liz Truss now confirmed as the new British Prime Minister, what will Boris Johnson do after he leaves Downing Street?
The outgoing PM has had a varied career, from Times reporter to high-payed Daily Telegraph columnist to editor of The Spectator, he then entered Parliament as the MP for Henley before beating incumbent Ken Livingstone to become mayor of London from 2008 to 2016.
Cabinet Role
Truss painted herself during the Conservative Party leadership campaign as the 'continuity' candidate of the Johnson government.
She has pledged to carry forward a raft of his policies, from the continued wrangling with Brussels over Brexit to support for the Kiev regime amid Russia's special military operation in Ukraine.
5 September 2022, 13:19 GMT
In her victory speech, Truss called Johnson her "friend". But she had already ruled out his return to a government role — at least in the short term.
"Having spent time with him this week on foreign affairs, I very, very much suspect that he would not want a future role in the Government," Truss said in late July. "I think he needs a well-earned break from what has been a very difficult few years."
Backbench Trouble-Maker
Johnson is still the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, a north-western suburb of London. Without a cabinet-level job he would naturally return to the back benches, whose fellow members overwhelmingly voted against him in a no-confidence vote in June.
Johnson would join his immediate predecessor Theresa May and former Tory opposition leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, both of whom have been outspoken on issues since leaving office.
Boris Johnson poses for photographers by looking out at the sights after officially opening "The View" viewing platform at the Shard skyscraper in London, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013
© AP Photo / Matt Dunham
But BoJo has other options. Former PM David Cameron quit politics altogether after losing the 2016 referendum he called on membership of the European Union (EU). Ex-Tory leaders William Hague and Michael Howard were ennobled to sit in the House of Lords, just as Margaret Thatcher did. But former PMs Sir John Major, Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have yet to 'don ermine', leaving a possible return to the Commons and even government open to them.
A possible spanner in the works could be the outcome of the Parliamentary Privileges Committee investigation into whether Johnson misled the House of Commons over the Partygate scandal. Committee chairwoman Harriet Harman, a veteran Labour Party MP, has pre-judged the probe by asserting that he did. If the rest of the committee agrees with her then Johnson could face a recall petition in his seat that could trigger a by-election.
A Return to Journalism
If Johnson chooses — or is forced — to step down as an MP, he could always return to his old profession of journalism.
Unlike most journalists BoJo made a very comfortable living as an op-ed writer for the Telegraph, earning a lot more than he later did as PM. Another gig as an opinion writer would also give him a chance to take digs at the fellow Tories who brought about his political downfall.
NATO Chief
The idea of Johnson succeeding former Norwegian PM Jens Stoltenberg as secretary-general of NATO was floated by some Conservative MPs and their Ukrainian counterparts back in July.
Stoltenberg, a former leader of his country's Labour Party, has one of the most strident voices for confrontation with Russia since taking the post in October 2014. His second four-year term was due to end in September this year, but was extended for a year in response to Russia's special military operation in the Ukraine.
27 July 2022, 11:29 GMT
Johnson has also been at the forefront of escalating the conflict, sending a significant part of the British army's equipment to Kiev and urging Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to shun peace talks with Moscow.
Full-Time Dad
Johnson has had almost as many wives and children as minister in his cabinet — something which his critics have often made an issue of.
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie Johnson during the Platinum Jubilee Pageant outside Buckingham Palace
© Jonathan Brady
Now he will have far more time to spend with his newest wife Carrie and their two young kids Wilfred and Romy, along with his his adult children Lara Lettice, Milo Arthur, Cassia Peaches and Theodore Apollo, all by his second wife Marina Wheeler, as well as his daughter Stephanie, born in 2009 from his affair with arts consultant Helen Macintyre.
Getting a Real Job?
On his endless round of official visits and photo-opportunities, BoJo has dressed up as factory workers, lab technicians, a hospital chef and even a soldier in the British Army.
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, right, joins a brick laying lesson at Blackpool and The Fylde College
© Peter Byrne
None of those jobs pay as much as being prime minister — or even an ordinary MP — but they come with more job security!
Policeman
Could BoJo join the boys in blue? One man was surprised to find the outgoing PM on a police raid of his building recently, greeting him in Jamaican patois with "wha' gwan Boris?". Ever the populist, Johnson seized the opportunity to shake the potential voter by the hand.
A guy snapped Boris Johnson on a raid of his own house? I don’t believe the UK is real sometimes 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/dVVbUn3eDj
— Bilaaaaaal (@bmuhhh) August 31, 2022
Professional Wrestler
Paying tribute to Johnson on Monday, Truss said: "You got Brexit done. You crushed Jeremy Corbyn." Perhaps the political heavyweight could bring some of that energy to the wrestling ring?
Bruiser BoJo has already shown his talent for the kind of verbal sparring that comes before WWE matches during the weekly Prime Minister's Questions in Parliament. He never once broke kayfabe even during the most difficult scandals. He'd be the obvious favourite in a Royal Rumble against his predecessors Theresa May, David Cameron, Gordon Brown, Tony Blair and John Major.
