Nothing to see here, says Boris
BORIS Johnson has criticised questions over the lavish refurbishment of his Downing Street flat as a “farrago of nonsense” as he vowed to comply with the Electoral Commission investigation.
The Prime Minister said yesterday that “I don’t think there’s anything to see here” despite the watchdog saying there are “reasonable grounds” to suspect an offence as it launched a formal inquiry.
The probe will seek to establish who initially paid for the work and whether any donation was properly declared amid suggestions he was given a loan from the Conservative Party.
Investigators can demand documents and information, and could potentially seek a statutory interview with the Prime Minister as part of the process.
During a visit to a London school, Mr Johnson told broadcasters: “We will comply with whatever they want, and I don’t think there is anything to see here, or worry about.”
The upmarket overhaul of his No 11 residence was inspired by a desire to get rid of the “John Lewis furniture nightmare”, as reported by the Tatler magazine covering
high society. But Mr Johnson said: “The one thing I object to in this whole farrago of nonsense is I love John Lewis.”
He declined to commit to immediately publish in full any findings from newly appointed ministerial standards adviser Lord Geidt as he carries his own review into whether any donations were properly declared.
The refusal led to renewed criticism from Labour, who were already objecting to the arrangement because the Prime Minister remains the “ultimate arbiter” of the code, meaning he “effectively marks his own homework”.
Mr Johnson argued, in a letter to chairman of the Committee on Standards in
Public Life Lord Evans, that he “cannot and would not wish” to give up the power.
“That vital responsibility is quite properly mine alone and, as an elected politician, one for which I am ultimately accountable to the electorate,” he said.
Lord Geidt was appointed to the position on Wednesday, five months after the resignation of his predecessor Sir Alex Allan.
Sir Alex quit in response to Mr Johnson standing by Priti Patel despite an investigation finding the Home Secretary’s conduct “amounted to behaviour that can be described as bullying”.
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson has insisted the public “will understand” cuts to overseas aid as it emerged the UK’S contribution to a United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency had been cut by 85%.
The Prime Minister said yesterday that aid spending would return to 0.7% of national income when it was “fiscally prudent to do so” after he broke a manifesto commitment to slash spending to 0.5%.
The United Nations Population Fund blasted the UK’S cut to its reproductive health agency as “devastating” for women, girls and their families around the world.