Boris Johnson paid £3.8million in cash for his grand new manor house, we can reveal.
The ex-PM personally negotiated £200,000 off the asking price for the nine-bed country pile – a new home for him, wife Carrie and their two young children.
It is a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for Mr Johnson, who is said to have complained that as PM and an MP he couldn’t get by on a combined salary of £164,080.
A source who worked under him in No 10 has said: “He used to say he was never being paid enough. He was so incredibly tight with money, jokes were made if his wallet ever came out.”
The country house was on the market for four years and the sale went through weeks before BBC chairman Richard Sharp resigned over his role in helping then-PM Mr Johnson secure an £800,000 loan towards the end of 2020.
There was controversy when Tory donor Lord Brownlow initially stumped up for a £112,000 revamp of the couple’s Downing Street flat – including £840-a-roll gold wallpaper. Mr Johnson was cleared by the standards watchdog but was accused of acting “unwisely” for being unaware of where the cash came from at the time.
The PM – who eventually picked up the tab for the 2020 refit – reportedly told aides: “The cost is totally out of control... she’s buying gold wallpaper! Tens and tens of thousands – I can’t afford it.”
Sources claim Mr Johnson also missed key Covid meetings due to “working on a biography of Shakespeare” to fund his divorce. But now, since resigning after losing the confidence of MPs, he appears wealthier than ever.
In February he trousered a £2.5million advance from the Harry Walker speaking agency.
And together with a £510,000 advance for his memoirs, his earnings in the five months since he left No10 came to nearly £5million.
In that time, the Johnsons have lived rent-free in properties with an estimated rental value of some £13,500 a month – a Cotswolds cottage and a £20million townhouse in London’s Knightsbridge.
Both properties are owned by Tory donor Lady Bamford.
The Cotswolds home is close to the manor house, in neighbouring Oxfordshire. It sits on five acres and has an annexe, cottage, moat, water garden and tennis court.
It has six reception rooms and five bathrooms, with extensive and grand entertaining spaces. It is understood Mr Johnson, 58, and Carrie, 35, saw it online and viewed it twice in person. The latest chapter in his money merry-go-round has angered opponents .
They are furious at the cost of probes into No10 parties during Covid – not least the £245,000 cost of Mr Johnson’s legal team.
A Labour source said: “While Johnson enriches himself on the back of his failed premiership and splashes the cash, he continues to cream the public to pay for his Partygate legal bills.
“Rishi Sunak is giving this disgraced former PM free rein to sponge off taxpayers.”
The £800,000 loan row saw Mr Sharp put guarantor Sam Blyth in contact with the Cabinet Office.
Mr Sharp resigned as BBC chair after a report found he broke rules by failing to disclose his role. Mr Blyth is a distant cousin of Mr Johnson. Last month we told how the Johnsons spent Easter in the Dominican Republic at a £5,000-a-night villa – owned by Mr Blyth. Mr Johnson declined to comment.
