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Boris Johnson’s chief Brexit negotiator was paid more than £26,000 by the taxpayer to resign from the government after serving as a minister for just nine months, the Guardian can reveal.
David Frost, who resigned last December citing concerns about the “direction of travel” of future relations with the EU and making the most of post-Brexit “opportunities”, was compensated for the “loss of office”.
The Conservative peer was handed a lump sum of £26,090, which was published by the Cabinet Office a week before the Christmas show.
He was the highest paid minister in the department with a salary equivalent to £104,000 – almost double that of Michael Gove, Steve Barclay and Alok Sharma.
According to the documents, Johnson’s decision to deputize the then cabinet secretary, Mark Sedwill, also cost the taxpayer £248,000.
The revelations led to accusations that the political chaos that plagued Johnson’s government and the high turnover of ministers came at the expense of taxpayers.
Frost resigned as minister in December 2021, citing his frustrations with tax increases and the government’s “Plan B” Covid policy reintroducing some mandatory measures last winter.
However, he also had to accept concessions on Brexit, with ministers abandoning their demand to block the European Court of Justice from becoming the final arbiter of trade rules in Northern Ireland and backing off Frost’s threat to trigger Article 16.
Ministers are entitled to a payment of one quarter of their salary when they leave office. A stream of payments was made when several dozen members of Johnson’s government resigned in the months leading up to his departure.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said the payment for Frost was “the price of Conservative chaos”.
Highlighting the struggle faced by many in the run-up to Christmas with a livelihood crisis and double-digit inflation, Rayner said the government had “tried to push the news out”.
She said it was done “in the hope that they don’t notice that their money has been handed over to a succession of failed former ministers who have exited the revolving door”.
Rainer added: “The Conservative Party has given us three leaders and four governments in six months, wrecked the economy and then handed us the bill for their own failure.”
Before becoming a minister, Frost was a civil servant who was the UK’s chief negotiator during talks with Brussels on the divorce settlement and later on a future trade deal. He was contacted for comment.
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