Johnson accused of ‘clear breach’ of rules by taking up Daily Mail columnist job

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Boris Johnson has been accused of committing a “clear breach” of the ministerial rules by only informing the appointments watchdog of his new role as a Daily Mail columnist half an hour before the public announcement. Shortly after 1pm the newspaper tweeted a video confirming Mr Johnson’s appointment, featuring him saying: “It’s going to be exactly what I think.” We have written to Mr Johnson for an explanation and will publish correspondence in due course Acoba spokeswoman Although he quipped he will only cover politics when “I absolutely have to”, the column gives him a powerful platform to take shots at Prime Minister Rishi Sunak with whom he has been publicly clashing. “We have written to Mr Johnson for an explanation and will publish correspondence in due course, in line with our policy of transparency.” The Acoba rules are in place to avoid suspicion that an appointment might be a reward for past favours and to mitigate a risk a minister could exploit privileged access to Government contacts. A spokesman for the former prime minister said: “Boris Johnson is in touch with Acoba and the normal process is being followed.” Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said Mr Johnson is “once again breaking the rules and taking advantage of a broken system for his own benefit”.