Fans of Boris Johnson offered a £121 handshake and photo opportunity

20 February 2025 , 07:27

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Fans of Boris Johnson offered a £121 handshake and photo opportunity

Tickets to hear former prime minister speak in Edinburgh’s Usher Hall cost up to £160 on top of meet-and-greet

Boris Johnson is charging £121 for a handshake and a photograph before a live event in Edinburgh.

The former Conservative prime minister will appear at the Usher Hall on 2 September for an event titled An Evening with Boris Johnson, which will also allow guests to take part in a question and answer session. 

Audience members are charged separately for a meet-and-greet ticket in addition to tickets for listening to him speak, which range from £53.90 to £159.90, with the higher price guaranteeing VIP seats.

The Usher Hall event page praises Johnson for taking the Conservative party “to an extraordinary election victory”, heading a government that “shattered the political and parliamentary deadlock over Brexit” and leading the UK “through the darkest days of the pandemic”. 

The site adds: “more recently, Mr Johnson emerged as the pre-eminent global leader in the effort to support Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion”.

Last week, the former prime minister’s allies told the Telegraph he was considering a political comeback, as they thought he was growing “bored” away from Westminster and believed there was “unfinished business”.

His friends told the newspaper he would be “watching and waiting on how British politics and the fate of the Conservative party unfolds”.

Johnson has held calls with the US president, Donald Trump, since he won the presidency, it was reported, and still talks to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Reform UK, which has more than 200,000 members, has rejected the possibility of doing a pact with Johnson in response to reports of potential talks to form a “mega-party”.

Last week, Zelenskyy, in an interview with the Guardian, rubbished claims that Johnson talked him out of a possible peace deal between Ukraine and Russia in spring 2022. Johnson’s visit and the supposed lost chance for peace has relevance, given Trump is hoping to do a deal to end the war.

A spokesperson for Johnson said they had nothing to add when approached about the Usher Hall event.

Henry Morgan