Boris Johnson: he loves money – especially if it belongs to somebody else.

Boris Johnson’s defence against allegations that he misled Parliament over all the parties in Downing Street while the rest of us were in Covid-19 lockdown has cost the public purse £245,000 – so far.

This Writer is not quite sure who signed off on the plan to use our money to pay his lawyers – the Treasury is denying that anybody there had anything to do with it.

And that’s strange, because

The Treasury’s spending rulebook says its consent should always be sought for costs “which set precedents, are novel, contentious or could cause repercussions elsewhere in the public sector”.

The BBC asked the Cabinet Office if this would apply to Mr Johnson’s legal bills, in a freedom of information (FOI) request. We were told the Treasury was not required to approve all spending decisions.

That’s a contradiction, of course. And those responsible seem to know it.

The Cabinet Office and a source close to Mr Johnson argued there is a long-standing precedent that former ministers are supported with legal representation.

But former senior civil servants disputed this, telling the BBC that it would not normally apply to parliamentary inquiries, like the one into Mr Johnson.

Johnson doesn’t need the financial help – he’s made £5.5 million from extra-curricular activities since he was forced to stand down as prime minister last year.

He gave evidence to the Commons Privileges Committee’s Partygate inquiry on March 22, and now we’re all waiting for its verdict, while Johnson’s legal bill skyrockets.

I asked the reason for the delay last week, after it was suggested that the result was being held back for political reasons to do with the local elections. Can you imagine how badly the Tories would have fared if the committee had found against him, before election day?

The response was that, after the verbal evidence had been taken, the committee had requested and received written evidence – and was mulling this over.

Well, those MPs had better make their decision soon, or the Treasury might not be able to cover the cost.

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