Mayor plays down £250,000 second job
London mayor Boris Johnson has described the £250,000-a-year pay he receives for his Daily Telegraph column as “chicken feed”.
Speaking on the BBC, the mayor said he considered the second salary wholly reasonable on top of his £140,000 mayoral salary.
“I think that frankly there’s absolutely no reason at all why I should not knock off an article as a way of relaxation,” Mr Johnson said.
“If someone wants to pay me for that article then that’s their lookout and of course I make a substantial donation to charity.”
However, his comments follow an announcement by David Cameron that all Tory shadow cabinet members will give up their second jobs by December.
When asked if his actions contradicted Mr Cameron’s stance, the mayor said: “Well I’m not a member of his shadow cabinet and I’d like to see what the detail of that is.”
Liberal Democrat frontbencher Norman Baker criticised the mayor for dismissing his second salary.
“There is nothing wrong with people writing newspaper columns, but this is an enormous amount of money and for Boris Johnson to dismiss it as ‘chicken feed’ shows just how out of touch he and the Conservative party are from the reality of life for millions of Londoners struggling to make ends meet in the depths of a recession,” he said.
The mayor’s expenses came under scrutiny last week after it was revealed he had spent over £4,000 on taxis since taking office last year.
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