UK's Boris Johnson returns as Telegraph columnist

"He's Back," the paper said on its front page on Monday.

Johnson was named foreign minister in July 2016 after playing a leading role in the Brexit referendum campaign.

He was forced to give up his regular columns, which a spokesman said were "inappropriate" for his new role.

When he gave up the newspaper job he also had to renounce the salary of £275,000 (311,000 euros, $365,000) that went with it for a more modest ministerial income of £143,789.

The 54-year-old Johnson, who is famous for his frequent gaffes and off-colour quips, started his career as a journalist and has worked on and off for the Daily Telegraph for 20 years.

He was a Brussels correspondent for the newspaper between 1989 and 1994, becoming famous for virulently eurosceptic articles, after being sacked by The Times for making up a quote.

During two years in government, he still penned around 20 articles for the Telegraph in which he often undermined May's position and called for a more hardline approach to Brexit.

Johnson dramatically resigned on July 9 saying that the Brexit "dream is dying" and warning that May's latest plan risked turning Britain into a "colony" of the European Union.

In his article on Monday he appealed for people to take a more positive view of Britain's prospects outside the EU but otherwise largely avoided the issue, saying he would resist "for now" the temptation to "bang on about Brexit". DM