Boris Johnson would have forfeited earnings of at least £10m a year from speeches and sales of his memoirs if he had fought a leadership battle against Rishi Sunak and lost, according to informed sources in the entertainment industry, who believe financial considerations played a part in his decision to pull out. Since he resigned in July, Johnson is known to have been in talks with entertainment and talent agencies including Endeavour, run by US businessman Ari Emanuel, and the Harry Walker Agency (HWA), one of its subsidiaries. HWA’s clients include Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Serena Williams. Johnson’s earning potential is said by some of those he had been in talks with before Liz Truss’s resignation to have been put at about £20m a year. Most Tories, including Johnson supporters, believe the main reason behind his withdrawal from the contest to replace Truss a fortnight ago was that he was being told he risked destroying the Tory party, and his reputation with it. However, some of his allies were surprised and felt let down by his decision. “There were a lot of people upset with Boris,” one senior Tory figure said. “They’d backed him publicly only to see him pull out at the last minute. They didn’t understand why.” Their confusion deepened on Friday when Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers, made it clear that Johnson had definitely received enough nominations (the backing of at least 100 MPs) to proceed to a final “indicative” vote of MPs and then a ballot of the 170,000 or so party members who’d have the final say. At the time some doubted he had got close to 100. The Observer has been told that people associated with Emanuel made it clear to Johnson that had he lost against Sunak, his appeal to global audiences, and therefore a good deal of his earning power, would disappear. It is understood that the talent industry believed his value would have dropped by at least half.
Last night a spokesman for Johnson said financial reasons played no part whatsoever in his decision and were “totally irrelevant”. The spokesman repeated what the former prime minister said in a statement when he withdrew. In it Johnson said he had “sadly come to the conclusion that this (taking the fight to the membership) would simply not be the right thing to do. You can’t govern effectively unless you have a united party in parliament.” The implication was that even if he had won in the country, the party would have been split because more MPs would almost certainly have backed Sunak in the indicative vote. Another senior Tory said: “What I think worried Boris most is that the rest of his life would have been awful, with people – including those friends who told him not to stand – saying he destroyed the party and lost us the next election. That is not to say financial issues might not have played on his mind too.” Meanwhile Matt Hancock, the former health secretary, was told yesterday he could earn around £1m a year having signed up for I’m a Celebrity. Showbiz guru Jonathan Shalit, the CEO of the InterTalent Rights Group, told GB News: “I suspect the reasons are quite simple. He needs to make a ton of money. Now he’s divorced from a lady; he’s got children. He doesn’t get much money as a backbench MP, yet his outgoings will be significant, if not more, so he needs a lot of money. “Also, his career’s going nowhere in the Conservative party. Rishi Sunak quite clearly isn’t going to give him a big job. So his career as an MP is coming to an end. I’m a Celebrity provides an opportunity to go on a new journey.” Hancock is reportedly being paid a fee of £400,000 to take part in the ITV reality show. Shalit said Hancock had an earning potential of £1m a year “on average” if his stint in the jungle went well. “You could get a million to a million and a half the next year, but equally that could drop down to £750,000. “But someone like Matt can probably make about £1m a year, quite often on weekends. For example, he could probably do three or four appearances for £10-15,000 each, minimum, if not up to £60-70,000.”