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UK's Boris Johnson Returns as Telegraph Columnist

by Agence France-Presse

   LONDON --

   After resigning as foreign secretary last week over Prime Minister
   Theresa May's compromise plan for Brexit, Boris Johnson is back at his
   old job as a columnist at the eurosceptic Daily Telegraph newspaper.

   "He's Back," the paper said on its front page on Monday.

   Johnson was named foreign secretary in July 2016 after playing a
   leading role in the Brexit referendum campaign.

   He was forced to give up his regular columns, which a spokesman said
   were "inappropriate" for his new role.

   When he gave up the newspaper job he also had to renounce the salary of
   £275,000 ($365,000) that went with it for a more modest ministerial
   income of £143,789.

   The 54-year-old Johnson, who is famous for his frequent gaffes and
   off-color quips, started his career as a journalist and has worked on
   and off for the Daily Telegraph for 20 years.

   He was a Brussels correspondent for the newspaper between 1989 and
   1994, becoming famous for virulently euroskeptic articles, after being
   sacked by The Times for making up a quote.

   During two years in government, he still penned around 20 articles for
   the Telegraph in which he often undermined May's position and called
   for a more hardline approach to Brexit.

   Johnson dramatically resigned on July 9 saying that the Brexit "dream
   is dying" and warning that May's latest plan risked turning Britain
   into a "colony" of the European Union.

   In his article on Monday he appealed for people to take a more positive
   view of Britain's prospects outside the EU but otherwise largely
   avoided the issue, saying he would resist "for now" the temptation to
   "bang on about Brexit".