CASH AND CARRIE

BORIS Johnson paid £3.8million in cash for his grand new manor house, we can reveal.

- MIKEY SMITH

The ex-PM personally negotiated £200,000 off the asking price for the nine-bed country pile - a new home for him, wife Carrie and their two young children.

It is a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for Mr Johnson, who is said to have complained that as PM and an MP he couldn't get by on a combined salary of £164,080.

A source who worked under him in No 10 has said: "He used to say he was never being paid enough. He was so incredibly tight with money, jokes were made if his wallet ever came out." The country house was on the market for four years and the sale went through weeks before BBC chairman Richard Sharp resigned over his role in helping then-PM Mr Johnson secure an £800,000 loan towards the end of 2020.