Pressure grows on PM over links to ex-model

‘Alleged abuse of power’

BORIS Johnson is facing calls to ‘come clean’ about his relationship with an American entrepreneur who received public money when he was mayor of London.

Former model Jennifer Arcuri, 34, was given £26,500 in grants for her firm Innotech and access to three overseas trade missions led by Mr Johnson in his time at City Hall.

Hacker House, another company she is linked to, received a £100,000 grant this year from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) – which is now investigating whether the firm actually qualified for the money.

Mr Johnson, who was mayor from 2008 to 2016, forged a close friendship with selfproclaimed ‘ethical hacker’ Miss Arcuri when she was in her twenties, and reportedly visited her east London flat. He also agreed to appear as a guest speaker at four of her tech events and overturned a decision to refuse her a place on a trade trip to New York, The Sunday Times claimed.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said questions needed to be asked ‘about an alleged abuse of power and misuse of public funds by Boris Johnson’. Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson said: ‘The Prime Minister should come clean on his role in these grants and clear up any suggestion of impropriety.’

Jon Trickett, Labour’s Cabinet Office spokesman, said: ‘The public has a right to know how and why these funds were used for the benefit of a close personal friend without – on the face of it – legitimate reason.’ Miss Arcuri, who has posted pictures of herself pole dancing, said all grants she received and trade mission trips she took part in were fairly awarded. Her husband and business partner Matthew Hickey said claims of impropriety over Hacker House were ‘smears’.

She moved to London from California to study for an MBA and joined Johnson’s campaign to be re-elected as mayor in 2012.

Soon after she became a tech entrepreneur in Shoreditch, east London. In 2013, Innotech apparently received £10,000 from London and Partners, a promotional group Mr Johnson was responsible for as mayor. It then gave her £1,500, and she had a separate £15,000 government grant. She was reportedly turned down after applying to join two of Mr Johnson’s trade trips, but won places after his interventions.

She is said to have named him in her phone contacts as The Commodore. Her ex-landlord Chandan Daryanani said Mr Johnson paid ‘many visits’ to her flat, and she called him ‘one of her best friends’. At the time, Mr Johnson was married to his second wife.

Miss Arcuri moved to the US last year with Mr Hickey, 36, after which, Hacking House, which they run, won a £100,000 DCMS grant – even though they were no longer based in the UK. Mr Hickey said the firm had 12 fulltime staff, and all except him were based in Britain, making the DCMS grant valid.

As mayor, Mr Johnson was bound by a code of conduct ‘to declare any private interests relating to public duties’.

Downing Street declined to comment.