It seems the days of ex-prime ministers going quietly into the sunset of retirement are well and truly dead. By this point, it will come as no surprise to any readers of Mr Steerpike to learn that, in the six months since Boris Johnson left No. 10, he has been keeping well and truly busy.

Phew, it’s a wonder Boris has had time to pop to Kyiv at all!

Now it seems that all that hustling is finally paying off for Boris. Strain your ears hard enough and you might just be able to hear the sound of cold hard cash raining down into the honourable member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip’s bank account.

A quick lift of the lid on the parliamentary register of MPs’ interests reveals that since 7 July 2022, Mr Johnson has earned nearly a whopping £5 million. The register, updated today, shows that over half of this sum landed in Boris’s account on 3 January when the former PM was paid £2.48 million as an advance for future speaking engagements arranged by his agents across the pond, Harry Walker.

While still finding time to pay President Zelensky the odd visit in Ukraine, it appears Boris’s paycheque chasing has taken him on a globetrotting mission around the world. Amongst the jobs he has been paid for in recent months are speaking engagements in New Delhi, Singapore and Portugal each worth over £200,000 a go. Phew, it’s a wonder Boris has had time to pop to Kyiv at all!

Although Boris isn’t the only former PM giving the after-dinner speech circuit a good old go of course, his efforts have comfortably dwarfed the rest. As Mr S wrote last month, Boris’s predecessor Theresa May has also done the rounds, earning nearly £1.2 million last year. Might Mr S suggest that Boris gives her a few tips? After all, this is the stuff which dreams are made of…