MP 'paid £5.5k' after leaving as Boris's minister

SAYS 'SEVERANCE PAYMENTS ARE NORMAL IN ANY JOB'

- CARL EVE

PLYMOUTH Tory MP Johnny Mercer received a payout of £5,593 after Prime Minister Boris Johnson terminated his contract as Minister for Defence People and Veterans, it has been reported.

At the time, Mr Mercer said he had resigned from the post, citing British soldiers who served in Northern Ireland not being included in a Government law designed to protect veterans from unfounded prosecutions. Later the same evening, a statement from Number 10 saw then Prime Minister Boris Johnson say he had “accepted the resignation” of Mr Mercer before thanking him “for his service as a Government Minister since 2019”.

But The Mirror reported at the weekend that Mr Mercer was handed £5,593 as a “contractual payment on termination of employment”.

He was re-hired in July 2022, in the final hours of Mr Johnson’s premiership, as the PM re-filled ministerial positions in the wake of mass resignations. But when Liz Truss came to power in September 2022, Mr Mercer was sacked again. However, he was brought back into the fold again after Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister.