Johnson: ‘There’s nothing to declare’
BORIS JOHNSON has insisted there was “no interest to declare” amid a storm over his association with an American businesswoman when he was mayor of London.
On Friday, the Prime Minister was referred to the police complaints body to assess whether he should face a criminal investigation over his links with former model Jennifer Arcuri.
The Sunday Times has now reported that she confided to four friends that they had been engaged in an affair during his time in City Hall.
It follows reports by the same paper that Ms Arcuri was given £126,000 in public money and privileged access to three foreign trade missions led by Mr Johnson while he was mayor.
But appearing on BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, Mr Johnson insisted “everything was done with full propriety”.
Pressed on whether he declared an interest relating to his links with Ms Arcuri, he said: “There was no interest to declare...
“Let’s be absolutely clear, I am very, very proud of everything that we did and certainly everything that I did as mayor of London.”
And he accused his successor Sadiq Khan of “peddling” the reports, adding: “I may say that the current mayor of London could possibly spend more time investing in police officers than investing in press officers and peddling this kind of stuff.”
Mr Johnson, speaking later on a visit to North Manchester General Hospital as the Tory Party conference got under way, said he was “very happy with everything that I did as mayor of London and very proud of the record that we have”.
“Everything that I did when promoting London overseas or whatever and making my speeches was done in complete conformity with the code and the rules.”
Asked if he misused public funds, he replied: “Everything I did was in complete conformity with the rules.”
The Sunday Times said that David Enrich, now the finance editor of The New York Times, had said he had been told of the alleged relationship by two of Ms Arcuri’s friends when he was working for another newspaper.
His account was said by the Sunday Times to corroborate that of other sources who had spoken to Ms Arcuri.
Downing Street refused to comment on the report.
The claims come after the Greater London Authority (GLA) said its monitoring officer had recorded a “conduct matter” against Mr Johnson over allegations Ms Arcuri received favourable treatment because of her friendship with him while he was mayor of London. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is now considering whether there are grounds to investigate the Prime Minister for the criminal offence of misconduct in public office.