Boris gets away with his freebie getaway
MPs overrule sleaze watchdog on £15k Mustique trip funded by tycoon... but still give Johnson a slap on wrist
BORIS Johnson has been criticised by Parliament’s sleaze watchdog for failing to explain promptly how a £15,000 holiday in Mustique was paid for.
The Prime Minister was found by the Commons Standards Commissioner to have breached the code of conduct over the 2020 New Year break.
But he escaped with a slap on the wrist yesterday as the Committee on Standards overruled her findings. The committee – made up of MPs and members of the public – said it was nevertheless ‘regrettable’ that a full explanation of the situation was not provided long ago.
An inquiry began in February last year after the Daily Mail revealed there were questions over who paid for the PM’s tenday stay on the luxury Caribbean island with his now wife Carrie.
he had claimed the £15,000 cost of his accommodation had been a gift from Carphone Warehouse founder David Ross. But the multimillionaire businessman told the Daily Mail he did not own the villa and had not paid for it use.
Following an investigation lasting longer than a year, Commons Standards Commissioner Kathryn Stone found Mr Johnson breached the MPs’ code by having not ‘fulfilled conscientiously’ the requirements for registering the stay. In her findings, made public yesterday, she said it had been ‘unusually difficult to find the facts’ about the holiday between December 26 2019 and January 5 last year.
The commissioner said of the Prime Minister: ‘Because he did not make sufficient inquiries to establish the full facts about the funding arrangements for his free accommodation, either before his holiday, as he should have done, or in 2020, I find that Mr Johnson has not fulfilled conscientiously the house’s requirements for registration.’ This was in breach of the code of conduct, she said, adding: ‘I also find that Mr Johnson has not shown the accountability required of those in public life.’
After the committee received the commissioner’s report, its chairman Labour MP Chris Bryant wrote to Mr Johnson and Mr Ross demanding more information. Their replies revealed an ‘ad hoc arrangement’ under which the Mustique Company paid the owners of the villa Mr Johnson stayed in and Mr Ross reimbursed them. Taking this into account, the committee concluded Mr Ross was the donor of Mr Johnson’s accommodation, meaning the PM’s initial declaration had been accurate.
In its report yesterday, it said: ‘This matter could have been concluded many months ago if more strenuous efforts had been made to dispel the uncertainty.’
The committee said that given Mr Johnson had twice before been reprimanded by them they would have expected him ‘to have gone the extra mile to ensure there was no uncertainty.’
The finding came after ministerial standards adviser Lord Geidt found Mr Johnson acted ‘unwisely’ in allowing the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat without ‘more rigorous regard for how this would be funded’.
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said: ‘This whole murky affair shows Boris Johnson has a casual relationship with the truth and a flagrant disregard for the most basic standards of integrity and trustworthiness.’ Mr Johnson yesterday said he had not seen the report, but added: ‘As I understand it, the committee has found there was no case to answer.’
■ Jeremy Corbyn is under investigation by the Standards Commissioner over allegations he did not properly declare financial support given to him for legal disputes involving anti-Semitism.
‘Not shown accountability’