Boris Johnson’s chief Brexit negotiator received a taxpayer-funded payout of more than £26,000 to quit the government after serving as a minister for just nine months, The Guardian can reveal.
David Frost, who resigned last December over concerns about the “direction of travel” of future relations with the EU and making the most of post-Brexit “opportunities”, was given compensation for the “loss of office”.
The Tory pair received a lump sum of £26,090, accounts released by the Cabinet Office in the week before the Christmas programme.
He was the highest paid minister in the department, on the equivalent of £104,000, almost double that of Michael Gove, Steve Barclay and Alok Sharma.
Johnson’s decision to force out the then cabinet secretary, Mark Sedwill, also cost the taxpayer £248,000, according to the documents.
The revelation has 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 stood down as a minister in December 2021, after making clear his frustrations with the tax hike and the government’s ‘Plan B’ Covid policy to reintroduce 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 being the top arbiter of trade rules in Northern Ireland and withdrawing from the ‘Frost’s threat to trigger Article 16.
Ministers are entitled to a payment equal to a quarter of their salary when they leave office. A flood of payments were awarded when several dozen members of Johnson’s government resigned in the months before he left.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said the payment for Frost was “the cost of Tory chaos”.
Highlighting the struggle many face in the face of the cost of living crisis and double-digit inflation in the run-up to Christmas, Mr Rayner said the government had “tried to hide this news”.
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He said it was done “in the hope that they don’t realize their money has been handed over to a succession of failed ex-ministers who have flown out the revolving door”.
Rayner added: “The Conservative party has given us three leaders and four governments in six months, crashed the economy and then handed us the bill for its 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 deal and then the future trade deal. He was contacted for comment.