Johnson has threatened to privatise the Passport Office.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-61233206
It may come as news to some but for ex-pats who require to re-new their passports abroad, the service is already being out-sourced to private business and is no longer the responsibility of UK consulates.
And rather than the 10 year begin from the expiry date, it proceeds from the application time and as foreign countries demand a passport has validity of at least 6 months, which means a 10-yr passport is now in effect 9 years and six months for the higher fee.