Boris Johnson: hedging his bets
It has been reported that Boris Johnson may campaign for the Tories in Red Wall seats at the General Election. If this actually happens careful scrutiny will be required on who is paying for him to do so.
The Sunday Times (10th March) reported that Johnson paid a recent visit to Venezuelan President Maduro. The auspices of the visit are obscure. The report says he lectured Maduro on democracy and the need to support Ukraine in which case it must be questioned why the President entertained him in the first place.
It is however the wider issues around the visit that are also of interest. Johnson used a private jet to get to Venezuela. The flight was paid for by Merlyn Advisors (Sunday Times 17th March) a hedge fund who Johnson acts as a consultant for. The firms founder Maarten Petermann accompanied Johnson and was at the meeting with Maduro. The paper says only politics were discussed but hedge funds like Merlyn stand to benefit if Western relations with Venezuela improve.
Merlyn Advisors owns the French football club Lille. Petermann is connected with Johnson hiring Carrie Johnson in his role as a Trustee of Aspinall Foundation, an animal conservation charity according to the report
Johnson was on yet another Caribbean holiday at the villa of Sam Blyth. Blyth is a distant relation of Johnson and guaranteed a loan of £800,000 to him while he was still in Office. For his undeclared role in helping to arrange this BBC DG Richard Sharp had to resign.
Update
The Guardian has reported that Johnson has failed to get approval from the official watchdog that regulates business appointments of former Ministers to avoid conflicts of interest. Johnson has done this before and his old mate Deputy PM gave him a free pass
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