Johnson bites back in new war of words over £350m pledge

BORIS Johnson was locked in a furious row with the head of Britain’s statistics watchdog last night over the size of the UK’s annual contribution to the EU.

In a highly unusual intervention, Sir David Norgrove publicly rebuked him for reviving his referendum pledge to ‘take back control of roughly £350million a week’. After an angry exchange of letters, the Foreign Secretary accused Sir David of a ‘wilful distortion’ of his words.

The row erupted after Sir David, chairman of the UK Statistics Authority, wrote to Mr Johnson saying: ‘I am surprised and disappointed you have chosen to repeat the figure of £350million a week in connection with the amount that might be available for extra public spending when we leave the EU.’

In a blunt assessment, Sir David accused Mr Johnson of a ‘clear misuse of official statistics’.

Aides to Mr Johnson later insisted it had been a misunderstanding, and that Sir David’s main concern focused on a headline in The Daily Telegraph stating: ‘Boris: We will take back £350m from EU for NHS.’

A spokesman said the two men had spoken yesterday, when Sir David ‘made clear that he was complaining about the headlines and not Boris’s piece. In fact, he admitted that Boris’s wording in the piece was absolutely fine’.

But Sir David hit back later, with a spokesman for the UK Statistics Authority saying: ‘Sir David Norgrove does not believe the issues lie solely with the headlines. He has not changed the conclusion set out in his letter to the Foreign Secretary.’

This prompted an angry letter from Mr Johnson accusing the pub-

‘A complete misrepresentation’

lic official of deliberately twisting his words. He said Sir David had privately conceded he was ‘not responsible’ for the headlines and coverage that followed his article.

He added: ‘I must say that I was surprised and disappointed by your letter of today, since it was based on what appeared to be a wilful distortion of the text of my article.

‘When we spoke you conceded that you were more concerned by the headline and the BBC coverage, though you accepted that I was not responsible for those.

Mr Johnson demanded Sir David withdraw what he said was a ‘complete misrepresentation’.

Defending his claim, he added: ‘I in fact said, “once we have settled our accounts we will take back control of roughly £350million per week. It would be a fine thing, as many of us have pointed out, if a lot of that money went on the NHS”.

‘That is very different from claiming that there would be an extra £350million available for public spending and I am amazed that you should impute such a statement to me.’

A spokesman for Sir David last night indicated he would not budge, saying he ‘stands by’ the criticism in his original letter.

The row came as Mr Johnson stepped up calls for the NHS to be handed a Brexit dividend following the UK’s departure from the EU.

Vote Leave’s pledge to repatriate £350million a week from the EU was emblazoned on the side of its campaign bus and became one of the most contentious claims of last year’s referendum.

The statistics watchdog rebuked the group for continuing to use the ‘misleading’ figure during the referendum campaign.

A House of Commons Library briefing states that last year’s gross contribution to the EU totalled £16.9billion – equal to about £325million a week. But critics claim not all of this would be available for additional public spending. Last year’s gross figure included a £4.8billion rebate and £4.1billion of EU spending in this country.

During the referendum campaign, the statistics watchdog pointed out that the Treasury pays the UK’s contributions to the EU after deducting the value of the rebate. And Sir David said yesterday that the £350million figure ‘confuses gross and net contributions’.