Boris Johnson has gone into business with a uranium energy executive and a woman he appointed to the House of Lords. AFP
Boris Johnson has gone into business with a uranium energy executive and a woman he appointed to the House of Lords. AFP
Boris Johnson has gone into business with a uranium energy executive and a woman he appointed to the House of Lords. AFP
Boris Johnson has gone into business with a uranium energy executive and a woman he appointed to the House of Lords. AFP


Boris Johnson caught in trap between chasing money and keeping political flame lit


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September 20, 2024

Like the sun rising and setting, the Boris Johnson rumour mill is turning again. He’s that dependable, a seemingly never-ending source of gossip and intrigue.

This time, the drums are beating about his new company, Better Earth Limited. Incorporated at Companies House in London, Better Earth names the former prime minister as a director, along with Amir Adnani, president and CEO of Uranium Energy Corp. The latter is a US mining and exploration company promoted by Steve Bannon, former adviser to Donald Trump.

Adnani has gone onshore with Boris, possibly because even the ex-PM would baulk at heading an offshore company registered in a secretive tax haven. That is Mr Adnani’s usual route, with a network of businesses listed under his name in the British Virgin Islands. Mr Johnson is credited as a director and co-chairman. As if that was not enough, to send tongues wagging even more furiously, Charlotte Owen is cited as Better Earth’s vice-president.

She is the junior political adviser elevated by Johnson in his resignation honours to the House of Lords at the age of just 30. Quite what he saw in Baroness Owen that caused her to be anointed, while other more senior, longer-serving male and female staff were overlooked completely or did not receive the same high accolade, was the subject of enormous controversy and speculation.

Speaks frequently without saying much

Charlotte Owen. The National
Charlotte Owen. The National

Since becoming Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge in Cheshire, her hometown – a title she will hold for life – she has spoken fairly frequently in the Lords without saying very much at all. Mostly she has talked about technology issues. She mentioned climate change only once, in her maiden speech, in which she also thanked Johnson for “putting a great deal of trust in me”.

Roles in environment and climate do not figure on Baroness Owen’s CV. Now, though, Charlotte and her ex-boss are firmly back in the headlines and she has a senior role in his company that appears to be centred on the warming planet.

After a lull, we’re back on characteristic Johnsonian ground. He reassured the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), which oversees ex-ministerial appointments, that he “did not meet with, nor did you make any decisions specific to Better Earth during your time in office”.

Links to Adnani

Amir Adnani has a network of businesses in the British Virgin Islands listed under his name. Alamy
Amir Adnani has a network of businesses in the British Virgin Islands listed under his name. Alamy

Since then it’s been discovered that Mr Johnson met Scott Melbye, the executive vice president of Uranium Energy Corp, Adnani’s company, in the House of Commons in May 2022 when he was still prime minister. Mr Adnani posted on social media that Mr Johnson and Mr Melbye spoke about “nuclear power and uranium”. The meeting was not recorded in the prime minister’s official diary.

Some clue as to the nature of the discussion might be provided by the fact that days before leaving office, Mr Johnson signed off an extra £700m investment in the new Sizewell C nuclear power station, saying the UK needed to “Go Nuclear, go large!”.

Critics, such as Caroline Lucas, the then Green MP and former party leader, were quick to pounce, denouncing the Sizewell C expansion as “massively costly, achingly slow and carries huge unnecessary risks”.

Uranium is the base of the enriched uranium required to fuel nuclear reactors. Sizewell’s growth would be welcome to uranium suppliers.

Sure enough, Mr Adnani from Uranium Energy Corp, hailed the announcement. He seems to have had advance notice of it, posting on Twitter before it was made: “Boris Johnson plans to sign off on new £30bn nuclear plant in his final week in power! #uranium.”

Mr Adnani is close to Mr Bannon, and has appeared twice on his War Room podcast. He told Mr Trump’s ex-confidante his aim was to obtain “full spectrum energy dominance”.

Adnani is close to Steve Bannon (pictured), an ex-confidant of Donald Trump. Getty Images
Adnani is close to Steve Bannon (pictured), an ex-confidant of Donald Trump. Getty Images

Better Earth's team

So, what is Better Earth? Its office is in a serviced building in Sevenoaks in Kent, and it portrays itself as an “energy transition company”. The firm’s work-in-progress website says it will “work directly with national governments and regions that are seeking both inward and/or to reduce their emissions ahead of 2030”.

Better Earth counts two other Conservative lights on its senior team: Chris Skidmore, the minister who resigned over Rishi Sunak’s oil and gas plan; and Nigel Adams, a close ally of Mr Johnson and a former minister without portfolio. Mr Adams is registered as the company’s CEO.

According to Companies House, Better Earth has a single share, which is owned by Emissions Reduction Corp in Carson City, Nevada. That entity was previously called Carbon Royalty Corporation, registered in Delaware – home to many US companies that wish to remain opaque – and counted Mr Adnani and Nicole Shanahan as directors.

Ms Shanahan was Robert F Kennedy Jr’s running mate in the current presidential race until he dropped out and endorsed Mr Trump.

Political embers

Boris Johnson in Downing Street after resigning as prime minister. Photo: No 10 Downing Street
Boris Johnson in Downing Street after resigning as prime minister. Photo: No 10 Downing Street

Other former PMs might think twice before heading down such a path. Not Mr Johnson. It’s not as if he needs the money: since leaving office, he has been earning a small fortune on the speakers’ circuit, mainly in the US and Asia, where he is feted.

He has joined the TV channel GB News as a commentator and programme maker, covering the US presidential election and next UK general election. That, together with his column for the Mail, nets him a sizeable sum from media work.

Then there is his memoir, Unleashed, which is due to be published next month. It has earned him a reported £500,000 advance and is bound to be a bestseller that will earn him £4m according to some estimates. He can already claim to be the bestselling prime minister-turned-author of the century, with his 10 previous books having sold 600,000 copies.

His 11th book was due to be a much-delayed account of William Shakespeare’s life, for which he received an advance of £80,000 in 2015. No publication date has appeared for the Shakespeare volume, which will be superseded by Unleashed.

Mr Johnson lived briefly in Camberwell, South London, in a town house he bought in July 2019 with his then-girlfriend and now wife, Carrie Symonds. Today, home for Mr and Mrs Johnson and their three young children is Brightwell Manor, a £3.8m moated mansion in the Oxfordshire countryside.

He is said to be enjoying, for just about the first time in his life, having serious money without the constraints of public office. That may be the reason for Better Earth and his association with Mr Adnani: that he would like more.

The irony is that while speculation persists about his life and business activities, Mr Johnson is missed by his fellow Tories. The terrible election defeat, followed by a lacklustre leadership contest, have only served to reinforce his popularity among some Tory activists. As with many Republicans and Mr Trump, they disregard his peccadilloes, preferring to focus on his ability to galvanise and lead the party to election victory.

While his critics fume and investigate, Mr Johnson continues on his own sweet way. That too has a familiar ring.

THE SPECS

Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine 

Power: 420kW

Torque: 780Nm

Transmission: 8-speed automatic

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Company Profile

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Sector: FinTech
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COMPANY PROFILE
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The specs
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England Test squad

Joe Root (captain), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Alastair Cook, Sam Curran, Keaton Jennings, Dawid Malan, Jamie Porter, Adil Rashid, Ben Stokes.

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Coffee: black death or elixir of life?

It is among the greatest health debates of our time; splashed across newspapers with contradicting headlines - is coffee good for you or not?

Depending on what you read, it is either a cancer-causing, sleep-depriving, stomach ulcer-inducing black death or the secret to long life, cutting the chance of stroke, diabetes and cancer.

The latest research - a study of 8,412 people across the UK who each underwent an MRI heart scan - is intended to put to bed (caffeine allowing) conflicting reports of the pros and cons of consumption.

The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation, contradicted previous findings that it stiffens arteries, putting pressure on the heart and increasing the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke, leading to warnings to cut down.

Numerous studies have recognised the benefits of coffee in cutting oral and esophageal cancer, the risk of a stroke and cirrhosis of the liver. 

The benefits are often linked to biologically active compounds including caffeine, flavonoids, lignans, and other polyphenols, which benefit the body. These and othetr coffee compounds regulate genes involved in DNA repair, have anti-inflammatory properties and are associated with lower risk of insulin resistance, which is linked to type-2 diabetes.

But as doctors warn, too much of anything is inadvisable. The British Heart Foundation found the heaviest coffee drinkers in the study were most likely to be men who smoked and drank alcohol regularly.

Excessive amounts of coffee also unsettle the stomach causing or contributing to stomach ulcers. It also stains the teeth over time, hampers absorption of minerals and vitamins like zinc and iron.

It also raises blood pressure, which is largely problematic for people with existing conditions.

So the heaviest drinkers of the black stuff - some in the study had up to 25 cups per day - may want to rein it in.

Rory Reynolds

BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES

SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities

Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails

Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies

Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments

What can victims do?

Always use only regulated platforms

Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion

Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)

Report to local authorities

Warn others to prevent further harm

Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence

Defence review at a glance

• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”

• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems

• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.

• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%

• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade

• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels

Updated: September 20, 2024, 6:10 AM`