Boris’ £250,000 a year is “chicken feed”

By Will Straw

At a time when David Cameron has called for his shadow cabinet to give up their second jobs, London Mayor, Boris Johnson, has described the Ò£250,000 salary for his weekly Daily Telegraph column as, â⒬Ŕchicken feed.â⒬Â

The salary â⒬“ worth Ò£5 a word â⒬“ is around ten times the national average income, which stood at Ò£25,480 in 2007/08 according to the Institute of Fiscal Studies.

The Mayor has previously used his column to write that, â⒬ŔThey say he [Blair] is shortly off to the Congo. No doubt the AK47s will fall silent, and the pangas will stop their hacking of human flesh, and the tribal warriors will all break out in watermelon smiles to see the big white chief touch down in his big white British taxpayer-funded bird.â⒬Â

The Mayor has also written that, â⒬Ŕif gay marriage was OK â⒬“ and I was uncertain on the issue â⒬“ then I saw no reason in principle why a union should not be consecrated between three men, as well as two men; or indeed three men and a dog.â⒬Â

Johnsonâ⒬┢s combined salary, including the Ò£140,000 he earns as Mayor of London totals Ò£390,000. Allowing for a hard working 80 hour week, Johnsonâ⒬┢s salary is Ò£93.75 per hour. This is more than twelve times the London living wage of Ò£7.45 that Johnson reset last July.

He outlined on BBC Hardtalk that, â⒬Ŕof course I make a substantial donation to charity.â⒬ The Guardian has reported that this includes Ò£25,000 for a “Boris bursary” for students of journalism at the London College of Communications and Ò£25,000 for the teaching of classics at state schools in the capital. The combined charitable giving comes to under 13% of his gross salary.

Johnson boasts that, â⒬ŔI happen to write extremely fast.â⒬ Perhaps he should slow down and think more carefully about the impact caused by his words.