Prime Minister Boris Johnson in straitened circumstances.

4 min read.

At the end of my last short story dated 14th February 2021, I had averred that I would write up my next post about the PM’s straitened circumstances. As I had some other commitments, instead of posting it sooner, I could not do it on the announced date either. Since then a lot of water has gone under the bridge. In the national newspapers, there have been rumours about the issue. In one paper there was an inner page headline using the words ‘in straitened circumstances.’ Quite ostensibly, my account of the subject matter is rather otiose.

However, I will deal with it from a different perspective. But some facts are to be reiterated. For example, the PM’s salary is about £160.000 per annum. From that roughly £60,000 is deductible as tax. That leaves slightly more than £8000 per month in hand. Until very recently his fiancee was not doing any job. I do not know whether she was entitled to any maternity leave payments. The PM must be getting royalties on his books. But before he became the Prime Minister he was earning about a million pounds a year, that included quarter of a million from the Daily Telegraph for his weekly column. Also, he was getting good money for public speaking.

At that time, he was well-situated financially and had enough cash to splurge even on car parking fines. The world had seen the images of his car wrapped up in parking fines and penalty charge notices outside his fiancee’s flat. Of course, now he gets official transport, and should not be worried about parking fines.

But since the birth of his child Wilfred, there has been a problem. The couple needed a nanny to look after the child. It is more so when the fiancee is a complete novice in the matter, though the PM is a seasoned veteran. This is the sixth or seventh time he has a baby.

But nannies do not come cheap. In case they employ a qualified one for 24/7, I doubt it if they can get one in London for less than £60,000 pa.

He is also paying maintenance to some of his children from his past relationship and previous wife.

Even if he scrimps on non-essential items, it would be difficult for him to have a decent living.

Recently the PM’s would-be-mother-in-law was seen entering the 10 Downing Street. She might have come to tend her grandchild. If it were so, it would be a blessing for the couple. But I am not sure about it. She could be a day visitor.

Our son , his wife and their two school-going children live about six-minute drive from our house. As they have been working full time, they had employed a nanny for a couple of years. She was quite good. She would pick up the children from the school, which is about nine-minute drive from their house, bring them home, and give them food. They would rest for sometime. She even helped them to do the homework. By then one of the parents would be at home. Unfortunately, she had to leave the job due to her family circumstances. Our son and daughter-in-law were in a predicament.

Our daughter-in-law approached us with a view to seek help in the matter. She asked us if we could collect the children from the school three times a week and to stay with them up to 5.30 pm, or sometimes until 6 pm. It was an onerous task. After deep deliberations, this was my polite response:

“We love our grandchildren and their company. But to pick them up from school three times a week is a job beyond our capability. Had we the capacity to look after more children we could have produced more. There was no other impediment. Thus, we limited it to two children. The maximum which we can do is to collect them every Wednesday.”

They agreed.

But hardly a few weeks had passed, Covid-19 pandemic put it on hold.

Coming back to the PM’s would-be-mother-in-law, if she is helping her daughter to look after Wilfred, she must be very brave. I make a salute to her.

It has been reported in the newspapers that readymade food is delivered to the PM’s flat. My advice is that though the dishes might be quite palatable, he should shun deliveries from the takeaways and restaurants, even if it purports to be organic. I would not eat such food every day. It appears he is putting up the weight again. He should consult his dietitian. To be honest he needs a cook to prepare salubrious dishes for him.

Last thing which is the nub of this post is this:

There is no doubt the PM’s financial situation is not healthy one. There is every possibility that as it stands he might be in a hock to his Bank. According to some reports, he is sometimes worried about it. Even if his fiancee restarts her job and her mother does some baby sitting, still he might be on a shoestring.

To refurb his flat, funds might be collected from the Party members by a charity set up by the Conservative Party.

But there is no proposal to find funds to provide salaries for the nanny and the cook.

Instead of humming and hawing, I have a proposal to avoid the PM’s financial woes.

We should do the crowdfunding. Many people, assuredly, would commiserate with him, and contribute generously. The funds collected would be sufficient to pay for two or three nannies and one or two cooks, and to last beyond the duration of this Parliament. He might carry on fathering more children with confidence. I think he loves children.

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Ps: Next post will be published on Sunday, April 4th 2021, at 11 am. It is titled: I had the second Covid-19 vaccine, but the possibility of new variants hangs over us like the sword of Damocles.