The Boris files: Leaked documents raise fresh questions over Johnson’s private office, claims report
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Boris Johnson Photograph: (AFP)
Leaked ‘Boris Files’ reveal Johnson’s taxpayer-funded office staff aided his business ventures, raising concerns over ethics, transparency, and misuse of funds
A cache of leaked documents from Boris Johnson’s private office has shed light on how the former UK Prime Minister has conducted his affairs since leaving Downing Street in September 2022, according to a report in The Guardian. The files reveal that Johnson has leaned heavily on connections built during his premiership to pursue lucrative ventures—while benefiting from taxpayer support intended for official duties.
The revelations prompt difficult questions: Has Johnson flouted the post-office “revolving door” rules? Has he crossed lines laid down in the ministerial code? And crucially, has public money meant for administrative support been diverted towards private commercial gain? The leak, shared with The Guardian by the transparency collective Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoS), contains around 1,820 files, totalling roughly 2GB of data. The material includes contracts, emails, invoices, and spreadsheets, mostly dating from after Johnson left office, though some cover his premiership. Among them are references to undisclosed meetings and activities that may have clashed with Covid restrictions in place at the time.
DDoS, a US-based non-profit that archives data leaks, has provided material in the past that has underpinned reporting by the Guardian, BBC, Washington Post, and others. While it does not know the original source of the Boris Files, it limits access to journalists and researchers rather than publishing everything openly, in contrast to WikiLeaks’ approach. At the heart of the controversy is Johnson’s use of the Public Duty Costs Allowance (PDCA), which allows ex-prime ministers to claim up to £115,000 a year to run their offices. These funds are supposed to cover secretarial and administrative work linked to public duties, not private business interests. Documents show Johnson’s office claimed around £182,000 in PDCA support to cover staff salaries.
Yet the same staff appear to have been involved in his commercial deals, raising questions over blurred boundaries. Johnson did not respond to the Guardian’s requests for comment. The PDCA was introduced in the early 1990s to assist former leaders with ongoing public functions, not to subsidise their personal enrichment. While every recent ex-prime minister has used it, none has been accused of directly leveraging taxpayer-funded staff for business purposes. Previous leaders have faced criticism for their private ventures—Tony Blair over consultancy deals and David Cameron over lobbying for Greensill Capital—but their official offices were not implicated in those controversies.
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The Boris Files will intensify demands for greater scrutiny of how PDCA money is spent. The Information Commissioner’s Office has already ruled that documents from ex-PMs’ offices fall under legitimate public interest disclosure, given they are partly supported by public funds. The Guardian has chosen to publish only a small portion of the material, after weighing the legal and ethical considerations. Its decision rests on the principle that recently departed leaders remain subject to public accountability, especially when profiting from networks built in office. Johnson, like his predecessors, may no longer govern, but the privileges of power continue to pay—and the public has a right to know how.
