Boris Johnson has paid £3.8million in cash for a nine-bed mansion - after 'complaints over a £160,000 salary'

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The former PM allegedly complained about his £164,080 salary while in office - but managed to find a way to pay £3 £.8million in cash on a grand new mansion for Carrie and family

Boris Johnson and Carrie are ready to live the life of luxury in their new home (

Image: GETTY)

Boris Johnson has paid £3.8million in cash for his grand new mansion, we can reveal.

The ex-Prime Minister personally negotiated a £200,000 reduction in the asking price for the nine-bed country house - a new home for him, his wife Carrie and their two young children.

This is a remarkable turnaround for Mr Johnson, who reportedly complained that as Prime Minister and MP he could not get by on a combined salary of £164,080.

A source who worked under him at No 10 said: 'He used to say he never got paid enough. He was so incredibly tight with money, jokes went around. been made if his wallet ever came out."

The country house has been on the market for four years and the sale came weeks before BBC chairman Richard Sharp resigned over helping then-Prime Minister Mr Johnson secure a loan of £800,000 towards the end of 2020.

There was controversy when Tory donor Lord Brownlow initially opposed an £112,000 revamp of the couple's Downing Street flat - including gold wallpaper at £840 a roll. Mr Johnson was cleared by the standards watchdog but was accused of acting 'recklessly' for not knowing where the money came from at the time.

The Grade II listed mansion Johnson bought to live with Carrie and the kids (

Picture:

CountryHouse/BNPS)

The Prime Minister - who eventually took charge of the 2020 redevelopment - reportedly told his aides: "The cost is totally out of control...she's buying gold wallpaper! Tens and tens of thousands - I can't afford it."

Sources say Mr Johnson also missed key Covid meetings because he was 'working on a biography of Shakespeare' to fund his divorce. But now, since he resigned after losing the trust of MPs, he appears richer than ever.

In February, he received a £2.5million advance from speaking agency Harry Walker.

And with an advance of £510,000 for his memoir, his earnings in the five months since leaving No10 amounted to almost £5million.

During this period, the Johnsons lived rent-free in properties with an estimated rental value of around £13,500 per month: a Cotswold cottage and a £20million townhouse in London's Knightsbridge.< /p>

Both properties are owned by curator Lady Bamford.

The Cotswold house is close to the mansion, in ...