Boris Johnson accused of 'clear breach' of ministerial rules for taking up Daily Mail columnist job

Boris Johnson has confirmed he is joining the Daily Mail as a columnist

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.

The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments wrote to the former prime minister on Friday demanding an explanation in the latest claim that he has broken the standards expected of office.

A spokeswoman for the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) said: "The ministerial code states that ministers must ensure that no new appointments are announced, or taken up, before the committee has been able to provide its advice.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson is seen on his morning run in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, England. Picture: Leon Neal/Getty Images

"An application received 30 mins before an appointment is announced is a clear breach.

"We have written to Mr Johnson for an explanation and will publish correspondence in due course, in line with our policy of transparency."

The former prime minister had vowed to offer uncensored views in his role as columnist.

The right-leaning outlet confirmed the announcement on Twitter on Friday, saying it was “delighted” to welcome “one of the wittiest and most original writers in the business”.

In a video shared alongside the announcement, Mr Johnson said he was “thrilled” to contribute to “those illustrious pages”, and promised to deliver “completely unexpurgated stuff”.

Although he quipped he would 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.

Mr Johnson’s column will appear in the paper every Saturday.

It comes as Mr Sunak may be spared a vote that could enflame the row in the Tory party after Mr Johnson called his supporters off from opposing the investigation that found he lied to MPs over Partygate.

The Prime Minister was agonising over his response to the damning Privileges Committee report which will be debated in the Commons on Monday as he seeks to unite his fractious Conservatives.

The report recommended that Mr Johnson should have faced a 90-day suspension had he not already resigned in advance of its judgment.

Though he cannot now serve that, the cross-party group of MPs also recommended that he should be banned from holding a pass to access Parliament for a series of offences.

Tory MPs will be given a free vote, but allies of Mr Johnson warned they could face battles with their local parties to remain as candidates at the next election if they back the motion.

However, Mr Johnson was privately urging his supporters not to oppose it, arguing the sanctions has no practical effect. He was aware that he would get his pass back if re-elected as an MP.

If the report is not opposed, then it could just be nodded through the Commons saving Mr Sunak from having to chose between further riling Mr Johnson by backing it, voting against the report and risking public anger, or avoiding the action altogether and facing allegations of being weak.

It was unclear whether opposition parties could force a vote to apply pressure on the Tories.

The sanctions proposed by the Tory-majority committee are expected to pass regardless, with only a relatively small group of Johnson loyalists who would oppose the report’s findings.