Leaked copy of invoice suggests controversial flat refurb cost £200k

The PM’s controversial refurbishment of his official Downing Street flat cost more than £200,000, a leaked copy of the invoice suggests.

Items ordered by Boris and Carrie for their No 11 apartment from interior designer Lulu Lytle’s upmarket Soane Britain firm included a £7,000 rug and 10 rolls of wallpaper costing £225 each, the document, obtained by The Independent, indicates. The bill also listed a £3,675 drinks trolley, two sofas worth more than £15,000 and dining chairs costing £11,200.

The reports are likely to reopen controversy surrounding the lavish flat overhaul and how it was funded.

The Cabinet Office, which reportedly leaked the invoice, refused to comment, as did Soane Britain.

No 10 was contacted for comment.

The flat revamp was one in a series of scandals surrounding Mr Johnson’s leadership which ultimately led to his party turning against him and forcing his dramatic resignation.

In May 2021, Mr Johnson asked his thenadviser on ministerial interests, Lord Geidt, to investigate claims that he had secretly asked Tory donors to foot the bill for the redecoration, which far exceeded the £30,000 annual public grant afforded to the prime minister to spend on his living quarters.

Lord Geidt cleared Mr Johnson of breaching the Ministerial Code and said that, when Mr Johnson learned the bill had been settled by the Conservative Party – including with a donation from Tory donor Lord Brownlow – he reimbursed them out of his own pocket.

However, a further investigation by the Electoral Commission resulted in the party being fined £17,800 for failing to properly declare a £67,000 donation from a firm controlled by Lord Brownlow.