Public money pays for Boris Johnson’s £100k personal photographer

Photoshopping history?

Boris Johnson's personal photographer is paid £100k pro rata from taxpayers' money on a part time contract, Channel 4 have revealed. Andrew Parsons was hired earlier this year under the official job title of 'Special Adviser' at No. 10, but his actual job entails taking flattering, candid photographs of the prime minister as he goes about his daily business. Glossy snaps of Johnson speaking on the phone to other world leaders, appearing at schools and looking hard at work as he travels up and down the country can be attributed to Parsons. Like this one, for example. Covid restrictions this year meant that sometimes, only one photographer was allowed in the room during the prime minister's daily briefings to the public. Often that sole photographer would be Parsons. When more photographers were allowed in, the photos that became available to the media would include those less flattering than the ones Parsons took, as demonstrated from this screenshot of Channel 4's report. Ian Murray, Executive Director of the Society of Editors, told C4 the government were trying to "control the message" by using their own photographer for these events, describing the situation as "the top of a slippery slope." https://twitter.com/krishgm/status/1339128481892982784