Downing Street now firmly in the rearview window, Boris is once again back on the speakers’ circuit, having already trousered thousands with a rip-roaring gig last month in Colorado. Now he’s got his next gig booked in: the featured keynote speaker at the International Symposium on Blockchain Advancements. BoJo’s going crypto now Hancock’s off the scene…

The event is scheduled for December 2 in Singapore, where former US Vice President Dick Cheney is also expected to speak. This means Boris is still – by just a couple of days – within the three-month embargoed window of ACoBA’s Business Appointment rules:

“The Rules state that a minimum waiting period of three months from the date of leaving office to taking up an appointment or employment will be expected when the former official was a Cabinet Ministers or a Permanent Secretary or equivalent, and may also be applied to other applicants if ACOBA believes this to be warranted by the circumstances of the individual case.”

When Guido pointed out Boris’s first post-PM speech could be a potential breach, his team argued that ACoBA does allow for one-off gigs without them being signed off by Lord Pickles. A second, within the three months, doesn’t help Boris’s office’s line of defence…