Boris Johnson’s last official meeting before resigning as Prime Minister was with Rupert Murdoch

Boris Johnson’s last official meeting before announcing his resignation was with Rupert Murdoch, government transparency releases show.

The former PM had a social meeting with the controversial media tycoon on Sunday 3 July, just a few days before he announced his resignation on 7 July, following a series of allegations against then-Deputy Chief Whip, Chris Pincher.

After taking over from Johnson in September, transparency records show that Liz Truss’ first official meeting as Prime Minister was with the CEO of News Corp, the organisation founded by Rupert Murdoch.

Johnson met with Murdoch at least four times as PM

Questions have previously been raised about the relationship between Johnson the highly influential media baron, whose news company owns News UK, publisher of The Times and The Sun, among others.

Johnson had last met with Murdoch, and his son Lachlan, on 6 June, at a ‘summer reception’. NationalWorld previously reported that Johnson met with Murdoch twice during his time as Prime Minister, in September 2020 and July 2021.

In October, a month after Johnson left office, Murdoch paid for the former PM to travel to Montana for a business meeting, at a cost of £11,559.84. It is unclear who the meeting was with. The Australian newspaper mogul is reported to have bought a large ranch in Montana in December 2021.

Johnson also met with Rebekah Brooks, CEO of News UK, and Robert Thomson the News Corp executive. Thomson then met with Truss, in her first official meeting as PM, on 20 September.

Truss became Prime Minister on 6 September, but following the Queen’s death on 8 September, the government ceased all official business during the period of national mourning. On her first foreign trip as PM, on 23 September, Truss travelled to the UN General Assembly, where she took part in a business roundtable with firms including Bain Capital, BlackRock, Citigroup, Google, JP Moraga Chase and Microsoft.

At the roundtable, Truss discussed her “economic vision and priorities” and “promote[d] investment into the UK”. She resigned less than a month later, on 20 October, following the fallout from the ‘mini-budget’ which sparked concern among financial markets and contributed to rising interest rates.