PM’S SECRET FUND FOR CARRIE’S NO10 DECOR
He plans new charity backed by rich donors to help pay for lavish revamp of private flat
BORIS Johnson is secretly trying to set up a charity to help pay for a costly makeover of his official flat by his fiancée, it was claimed last night. The scheme is based on one used by the White house to raise millions of dollars for interior design, antiques and art.
The presidential charity is bankrolled by private donors – and the proposed Downing Street version is expected to be funded largely by wealthy Tory benefactors.
It runs the risk of claims of conflict of interest if it is seen as a back-door way of providing a financial benefit to the Prime Minister.
Mr Johnson has complained the cost of the refurbishment by Carrie Symonds was ‘totally out of control’,
Daily Mail has been told. He reportedly said during one meeting that the sum amounted to ‘tens and tens of thousands’. On another occasion he said it was ‘over a hundred grand’.
He is said to have told one minister he was particularly alarmed by the cost of wallpaper chosen by Miss Symonds, saying she appeared to have ordered ‘gold wall coverings’.
Mr Johnson has asked multi-millionaire financier and Tory peer Lord Brownlow, who has close links with the Royal Family, to run the charity. It is believed that an application to register it with the Charity Commission is under way.
The official purpose of the charity is to raise funds to preserve No 10 and No 11 Downing Street for the nation on heritage grounds. But insiders say the proposal stemmed from the soaring cost of a makeover of the No 11 flat, which is preferred by prime ministers with families because it is bigger than the No 10 flat.
The restyled décor is said to have been inspired by celebrated eco interior designer Lulu Lytle. The founder and director of Soane Britain ‘designs and makes Britishmade furniture, upholstery, lighting, fabrics and wallpaper’ based on ‘traditional crafts including blacksmiths’.
Prince Charles visited her rattan workshop last year just before the pandemic. Miss Lytle’s fabrics start at £100 a metre.
Work on refurbishing the No 11 flat is believed to have been completed in recent months. It went on for more than a year and was disrupted by Covid.
Mr Johnson first expressed concern at the rising cost early last year. He is said to have commented there was ‘no way’ he could pay for it after being informed by the Cabinet Office that the maximum taxpayer contribution was ‘around £30,000’.
That left a massive shortfall. Despite his salary of £150,000 a year as Prime Minister, Mr Johnson has taken a big pay cut because he earned £500,000 as a newspaper columnist and author before entering No 10.
In addition he has had an expensive divorce from his ex-wife, Marina Wheeler.
This newspaper understands that there were several meetings in No 10 where Mr Johnson discussed the possibility of asking Conservative donors to bridge the gap was discussed, either directly or via Tory Party HQ. After being warned that could be
‘Warned it could be unethical’
unethical, his advisers came up with an alternative scheme.
They said the most practical and ethical way to secure extra financial help to pay for the refurbishment was by establishing a new charitable fund.
Its purpose would be to maintain not just the No 11 flat, but also other parts of Downing Street, including the state rooms.
That way, it way could be presented as having a wider heritage purpose that would benefit future prime ministers, not just Mr Johnson, he was advised. He is said to have agreed to the proposal.
However, according to some sources, in reality the real purpose was to bail out Mr Johnson and pay for Miss Symonds’ expensive tastes.
It is believed that the new charity will be designed to allow money to be used to pay for the refurbishment. It is modelled on a similar scheme used to maintain the White House, where the US president’s wife customarily plays a big role in interior design.
Incoming presidents and their families are allowed to spend up to $100,000 (£72,000) on restyling the Washington mansion.
When David and Samantha Cameron occupied the No 11 flat, they paid the bulk of a £100,000 redesign by Mrs Cameron, including a new kitchen.
An ally of Mr Johnson last night defended the charity plan, saying: ‘Downing Street is as iconic as Windsor Castle but is in danger of becoming tatty because the Civil Service does everything on the cheap.
‘A new charity with privately raised money to preserve it in great shape for all time is great value for the taxpayer and a great idea.’
Friends of Miss Symonds deny she has been extravagant.
‘The makeover is appropriate for a building of such huge importance,’ said one. ‘Carrie has exquisite taste. It is classic, stunning, stylish and chic. She should be congratulated not criticised.’
The Prime Minister’s official country residence, Chequers in Buckinghamshire, is maintained by a trust with funds from Lord Lee, who gave the house to the nation a century ago.
A No 10 spokesman said: ‘ The Downing Street complex is a working building, as well as containing two ministerial residences.
‘As has been the case under successive administrations, refurbishments and maintenance are made periodically.
‘Matters concerning works on the Downing Street estate, including the residences, are covered in the Cabinet Office annual report and accounts.’
The spokesman declined to answer further questions from the Mail, including whether Mr Johnson had voiced worries about the cost of the refurbishment and whether he discussed asking Tory donors to help pay for it or asked Lord Brownlow to take charge of the proposed charity. The Charity Commission said it was not aware of any application to set up a Downing Street charity.
Conservative Party HQ, the Cabinet Office, Lord Brownlow and Miss Lytle declined to comment.
According to one insider the idea of creating a blind trust, an arrangement wherein a public figure’s investments are handled by others whose identity is not disclosed to him or her to avoid a conflict of interest, was also discussed as a funding option.
This is said to have been ruled out on the grounds that the identity of the Tory donors would almost certainly be known to the Prime Minister.
Miss Symonds is involved in another charity controversy.
She recently announced she was joining the staff of the Aspinall Foundation, whose financial govthe
ernance is now being probed by the Charity Commission.
Founded by the late John Aspinall, a friend of Lord Lucan, the foundation helps gorillas in the Congo and runs other conservation projects.
The commission has launched a probe into concerns about ‘financial management and wider governance’.
The non-profit foundation allows its founder’s son, gambling tycoon Damian Aspinall, to live in a 30room manor for a fraction of normal market rates.
He is charged just £2,500 a month for Howletts mansion, a Grade II-listed Palladian pile it owns in rural Kent.
The charity is also shelling out large sums of money to Mr Aspinall’s wife Victoria.
Miss Symonds has suggested the Charity Commission’s inquiry is all perfectly normal. She said: ‘The commission made a number of ongoing routine inquiries at the end of last year as part of its regular checks.’
However, commission sources told the Daily Mail: ‘A routine check of their accounts in November raised a number of red flags, and these concerns are now being looked at.’