WORLD BRIEFING / BRITAIN

London’s outspoken mayor, Boris Johnson, came under fire for describing the $400,000 second salary he earns writing a weekly newspaper column as “chicken feed.”

Workers for London’s transport network, which ultimately is headed by the mayor, reacted angrily to the comments Johnson made in an interview with BBC.

“Transport workers in London will look at Boris Johnson’s claim that 250,000 pounds a year for moonlighting in a second job is ‘chicken feed’ and wonder just what planet he’s living on,” said Bob Crow, head of the RMT transport union.

Johnson, who attended Britain’s elite Eton College and Oxford University and was a Conservative member of Parliament, also earns a regular mayoral salary of $225,000 a year.

The average annual wage in Britain is about $40,000.