BORIS Johnson has been branded “shameless” after reportedly complaining about his supposedly meagre salary.
Not for the first time, the Prime Minister is facing accusations that he’s moaned about his £157,372 pay packet.
According to the Financial Times, the Tory leader is regularly heard saying “I just can’t afford to do this job”.
It comes as his administration ends a £20 uplift in Universal Credit which charities have warned is a “lifeline” for struggling families.
READ MORE: Tories dismiss outrage over furlough and Universal Credit cuts
Despite Johnson living rent-free in the flat above Number 10, the FT notes that it is taxable as a benefit in kind and that the PM “has to pay for any private entertainment”.
A Tory insider told the paper: “He needs a very high figure, just to get by.”
The Prime Minister’s financial woes reportedly drove him to seek help for the lavish refurbishment of his Downing Street flat.
Johnson considered setting up a “trust” to pay for the costs, but the plan was quickly scrapped because the flat was private and therefore ineligible.
Instead, Conservative donor Lord Brownlow contributed £58,000 to the party “to cover the payments the party has already made on behalf of the soon to be formed Downing Street trust”.
But Johnson ended up having to cover the costs, “stretching his finances further”, according to the FT.
The report has prompted a wave of criticism from opposition politicians, who point to the UK Government’s decision to end the £20 uplift to Universal Credit.
SNP MSP Kevin Stewart posted: “This is the man that seems to be determined to cut £20 a week off the poorest people’s Universal Credit. Johnson is shameless.”
Labour mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram, added: “Try surviving on Universal Credit.”
READ MORE: Boris Johnson 'worried his £150,000 salary isn't enough'
Previously, while serving as foreign secretary, Johnson told friends that his £141,405 salary was “not enough to live on”.
And in September last year, the PM’s chums told the Times that he was concerned about money and “very, very badly served” in his position as the UK’s leader.
The friend said: “He doesn’t have a housekeeper — he has a single cleaner and they’re worried about being able to afford a nanny.
“He’s stuck in the flat and Downing Street is not a nice place to live. It’s not like the Élysée or the White House where you can get away from it all because they’re so big. Even if he or Carrie want to go into the rose garden they have to go through the office.”
Another friend said that Johnson is “always worried about money, he has a genuine need to provide for his family, all of them, and I think that does worry him”.
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