ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER PAD IDEA AT NO.10
Row over Johnson revamp of Downing St flat
BORIS Johnson faces a “conflict of interest” row over a lavish revamp of his grace-and-favour Downing Street flat.
A Labour MP demanded answers over claims the Prime Minister is trying to set up a charity to help refurbish the four-bedroom living quarters above No11.
His fiancee Carrie Symonds has removed Theresa May’s “John Lewis furniture nightmare”, and paintings by British artist John Nash now hang alongside works by the PM himself, according to Tatler magazine.
The revamp is said to include gold wall coverings and fabrics costing more than £100 per metre.
Mr Johnson has privately complained the cost is “totally out of control” and could be close to six figures, it has been reported.
Downing Street yesterday refused to rule out the taxpayer footing part of the bill, saying details will be published in summer.
No10 also refused to deny claims the PM wants private donors to help pay – after he was told taxpayers would only fund £30,000.
It has been reported he has asked Tory peer Lord Brownlow to set up a charity, which would also maintain Downing Street’s state rooms.
That has raised fears Tory donors could funnel money to the PM’s living arrangements through a charity.
Labour MP Sarah Owen wrote to him: “This latest case raises more issues in relation to this government’s mishandling of public money.”
In the letter she asked if it is “appropriate” to lavish money on the flat as millions are left without Covid support, adding did he foresee “any potential conflicts of interests” by him “taking direct payments from Conservative Party donors?”. Mr Johnson and Ms Symonds moved into the flat in July 2019. At the time a No10 spokeswoman said there would not be “additional cost to the taxpayer” of Ms Symonds living there. The PM’s press secretary yesterday said “I don’t know” if the pledge was still true. The No11 residence is used by PMs as it is bigger than the two-bed flat above No10. The Camerons had a £30,000 kitchen fitted a decade ago.
A No10 spokesman said: “Refurbishments and maintenance are made periodically.”
FOR selfish, cynical Boris Johnson to feather his Downing Street nest at taxpayers’ expense or by leaving himself at the mercy of tycoons is greedy Tory politics.
It is nauseating to see the PM putting himself first as he punishes Covid heroes with wage freezes – and as even Tories warn that hundreds of thousands of the world’s poorest will die from his £4billion cut to foreign aid.
If the twice-divorced dad and his younger girlfriend Carrie Symonds want to tart up the flat, let them do what everybody else must and pay the bills themselves.