Johnson in new trouble over Daily Mail column

LONDON: Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson was unveiled on Friday as the Daily Mail´s new star columnist -- but attracted an immediate rebuke from a government watchdog to cap a tumultuous 48 hours.

A day after Johnson was given a blistering verdict by a committee of MPs investigating his “Partygate” denials, the right-leaning newspaper announced he would be writing a weekly column on Saturdays.

In a video posted by the Mail, former journalist Johnson said he was “thrilled” to contribute to “those illustrious pages”, vowing to deliver “completely unexpurgated stuff”.

The anti-immigrant, anti-woke, Brexit-supporting Mail has long been one of Johnson and the Conservative party´s most vocal and uncritical backers.

Johnson joked that he would cover politics only when “I absolutely have to” -- and in a preview of the first column posted online, he dwelt on his never-ending battle to lost weight.

He described experimenting with an appetite suppressant to avoid the temptation of “raiding the fridge at 11.30 pm for the cheddar and chorizo washed down with half a bottle of wine”. But if he chooses to return to more heavyweight political subjects, Johnson now has a high-profile platform to pursue his vendetta against Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

However, the ever-controversial Johnson was upbraided for failing to respect the rules governing outside appointments for former ministers.

The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) is meant to vet all such appointments in the two years after a politician leaves high office.