Boris Johnson is a paid consultant to a hedge fund that organised his secret visit to Venezuela’s autocratic leader, President Maduro, and that stands to gain from improved relations between the West and the Latin American republic.
The former prime minister was accompanied on his trip by the founder of the firm, who sat in on discussions with the president.
Johnson took a private jet to Caracas last month for talks with the autocratic president of the oil-rich country who stands accused of vote-rigging, corruption and human rights abuses.
His public position is that he used a 45-minute encounter to spell out conditions for resuming full diplomatic relations with the UK, which does not recognise Maduro’s administration and has frozen $2 billion of its gold