The Prime Minister Who Invoiced a Dictator: Johnson's Gulf Gold Rush Exposes Britain's Ethical Collapse

Boris Johnson texted Mohammed bin Salman from Downing Street at 5:48pm on April 26, 2022. Two years later, he wrote to the Saudi Crown Prince as a “fervent admirer” seeking business deals. Between those two moments lies the complete erosion of any remaining boundaries between British public office and private profit.

The Guardian’s leaked documents from Johnson’s private office reveal something more troubling than individual greed. They expose a political class that no longer even pretends to maintain the distinction between serving the public and serving themselves. When a former prime minister can invoice a Venezuelan dictator for £240,000 while claiming the meeting was “unpaid” to ethics watchdogs, we’re witnessing institutional capture so complete that the captors don’t bother hiding anymore.

The Facts: A Systematic Monetization Scheme

The leaked files document Johnson’s post-premiership commercial operation with clinical precision:

The Saudi Venture: March 2024 letter to MBS offering services through Better Earth Limited, worth £120,000 annually plus 12.5% equity stake. Johnson pitched green technology solutions to the world’s largest oil exporter, describing himself as living in “blameless rustic obscurity” while actively violating lobbying prohibitions.

The Abu Dhabi Play: Sought stakes “potentially worth millions” in Bia Advisory, lobbying Khaldoon al-Mubarak (Manchester City chairman) for over $1 billion in investment funds. Johnson hosted al-Mubarak three times at Downing Street as PM.

The Venezuela Invoice: Met with Nicolás Maduro on behalf of hedge fund Merlyn. Told regulators the meeting was “unpaid.” His office invoiced Merlyn for £240,000 weeks before making that claim.

The Speaking Circuit: £5 million from 34 speeches globally, including entertainment at a German businessman’s birthday party.

The Public Subsidy: All while claiming up to £115,000 annually in taxpayer funds meant exclusively for public duties. Three staff members paid by public money involved in commercial activities.

Johnson broke Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) rules explicitly prohibiting lobbying government contacts developed in office for two years after leaving. He sought clearance for Better Earth without disclosing the Saudi angle. When confronted, he called accurate reporting “rubbish” and compared The Guardian to Pravda.

Pattern Recognition: The Gulf State Gravy Train

Johnson joins a procession of British prime ministers monetizing Gulf relationships:

Tony Blair’s institute receives Saudi funding and an £8 million contract to support MBS’s agenda. David Cameron went camping with MBS in the Saudi desert while lobbying for Lex Greensill. Both maintained these relationships after Jamal Khashoggi’s 2018 murder and dismemberment at Saudi embassy in Istanbul.

Johnson himself called Khashoggi’s killing “an unforgivable crime” at a private North Carolina event in April 2023. US intelligence concluded MBS “approved” the operation. Yet Johnson wrote of his “fervent admiration” for the Crown Prince while seeking business.

This isn’t corruption in the traditional sense. It’s the complete normalisation of using public office as a business development platform. The same leaders who impose austerity on citizens, who lecture about fiscal responsibility, who cut public services, immediately monetize their government relationships the moment they leave office.

The Institutional Void

Acoba, Britain’s “revolving door” watchdog, emerges from these documents as perhaps the perfect symbol of UK institutional decay. Johnson openly violated its rules. When caught, he lied to them about the Venezuela payment. Their response? Nothing of consequence.

The watchdog doesn’t watch. The rules don’t rule. The boundaries don’t bound.

Consider the timeline: Johnson texts MBS as Prime Minister in April 2022. He’s forced from office by July 2022 after serial scandals. By March 2024, he’s pitching the Saudi Crown Prince for business, having already set up commercial ventures with seven close associates including two former Conservative ministers and an aide he made a peer.

The two-year cooling off period meant to prevent exactly this behavior? Ignored. The prohibition on lobbying government contacts? Violated. The requirement for truthful disclosure to regulators? Abandoned. The public duty costs allowance meant solely for public service? Potentially misused for commercial gain.

The Normalisation of Shamelessness

Max Hastings, Johnson’s former editor, observed that Johnson “cares for no interest save his own fame and gratification.” What these documents reveal is worse: an entire political ecosystem that rewards this behavior.

The OECD study cited finds two-thirds of Britons believe politicians would accept well-paid jobs in exchange for political favors - the highest rate among 30 wealthy nations surveyed. This isn’t cynicism. It’s pattern recognition.

Johnson couldn’t afford to be prime minister, one aide noted during the wallpaper scandal. Nine children to support. Books on Shakespeare that never materialise. The solution? Transform the prime ministership into a pre-sales operation for post-office commercial ventures.

What This Actually Means

Britain now operates a political system where:

1. Public office is understood as investment in future private profit
2. Regulatory bodies exist to provide cover, not oversight
3. Ethics rules are optional for those with sufficient connections
4. Taxpayer funds subsidize commercial operations of former leaders
5. Gulf autocrats are the primary customers for British political influence

Oliver Bullough notes that the Gulf is where “kleptocracy is not just legal, but positively encouraged.” British former prime ministers have made themselves the service providers to these kleptocrats, selling relationships, influence, and legitimacy cultivated at public expense.

The Deeper Decay

This isn’t about Boris Johnson’s personal venality. Three successive prime ministers have taken the Gulf gold. The permanent political class sees nothing wrong with this. The media treats it as gossip rather than systemic corruption. The regulators regulate nothing. The public, exhausted by perpetual scandal, expects nothing better.

When Johnson claims he’s “deeply committed to carbon reduction” while seeking Saudi oil money, he’s not even trying to maintain the pretense anymore. The lie is so transparent it becomes almost honest - an admission that words mean nothing, rules don’t apply, and power is simply the ability to monetize public trust.

The fish, as Sue Hawley observes, rots from the head. But in Britain’s case, the rot has spread so thoroughly that identifying healthy tissue becomes the challenge. Johnson’s commercial ventures aren’t the disease - they’re the symptom of a political system that no longer recognizes the concept of public service, only public-to-private wealth transfer.

Britain hasn’t just lost another prime minister to scandal. It has institutionalised the scandal itself, making the monetization of public office not just acceptable but expected. The decline continues, documented in invoices to dictators and text messages to autocrats, while the British public pays both the bills and the price.