Boris Johnson picked up £4,000 in parking fines while working for the magazine, ex-boss says

Boris Johnson worked as a car correspondent for GQ magazine, where parking tickets piled up “like blowing snow on the windscreen,” his former editor said

Boris Johnson has raised £4,000 in parking tickets while working as a car correspondent, his former boss has said.

Dylan Jones, who edited GQ magazine for more than two decades until 2021, hired Mr Johnson at lunch at Le Caprice in May 1999 to work for the Conde Nast title.

“However, there soon seemed to be a problem as the editor-in-chief began receiving quite a few parking tickets,” wrote Mr. Jones The Sunday Times.

“And when I say a lot, I mean a lot; in Boris’ own words, they began to pile up ‘like blowing snow on the windshield’.

Mr Jones added: “I once found out that Boris cost us around £4,000 in speeding tickets over the ten years he’s worked for GQ.

“But then he’d also written over a hundred incredibly funny car columns, so I figured it was worth it.”

Mr Jones, who was made an OBE for services to the publishing and fashion industries in 2013, said “interestingly” Mr Johnson has never received any speeding tickets.

“And I have a pretty good idea of ​​why,” added Mr Jones.

“When delivering the cars to his home in Islington, the car company always wrote down the mileage, which is standard practice.

“The mileage was also noted when they picked her up again. And on more than one occasion – OK, on ​​many, many, many occasions – the mileage has been exactly the same.

“So I leave it to you to draw your own conclusions.”

The Prime Minister is fighting for his political life amid the aftermath of the Partygate scandal, which saw him fined £50 for attending a surprise lockdown birthday party in June 2020.

Cabinet Secretary Brandon Lewis tried to minimize the severity of the penalty by comparing it to a parking fine in a disastrous interview last week.

Mr Johnson traveled more than 4,000 miles to India to escape his ailments, but his efforts to focus on trade and diplomacy were derailed by the ongoing dispute.

He told journalists in India that he would still be prime minister in the autumn – despite growing Tory discontent.

Police have reportedly started fining those who attended a BYOB gathering in Downing Street gardens in May 2020 – which the Prime Minister has admitted he briefly attended.

But No 10 has said Mr Johnson has not received a firm penalty for the event so far.