The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
‘Johnson spent £200k on flat revamp’
The prime minister’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 Johnson 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 at £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, with the cheapest item – a kitchen table cloth – priced at £500.
The reports are likely to reopen controversy surrounding the lavish flat overhaul and its funding.
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 around Mr Johnson’s leadership which ultimately led to his party forcing his resignation on Thursday.
In May 2021, Mr Johnson asked his then-adviser on ministerial interests, Lord Geidt, to investigate claims that he secretly asked Tory donors to pay for the redecoration, which far exceeded the £30,000 annual public grant for the prime minister to spend on his living quarters.
Lord Geidt cleared Mr
Johnson of breaching the Ministerial Code, and said that, when the PM learned the bill was settled by the Conservative Party – including a donation from Lord Brownlow – he repaid them from his own pocket.
But a further probe by the Electoral Commission saw the party fined £17,800 for failing to properly declare a £67,000 donation from a firm controlled by Lord Brownlow.
It also revealed that Mr Johnson exchanged WhatsApp messages with Lord Brownlow about the revamp in November 2020 which were not disclosed to Lord Geidt.
This raised questions about what Mr Johnson knew about the source of the donations, and whether Lord Brownlow was given access to ministers in return for helping to bankroll the work.
Mr Johnson reportedly complained at the time that the cost was “totally out of control” and his thenfiancee Carrie Symonds was “buying gold wallpaper”.
She reportedly saw the overhaul as necessary to rid the residence of the “John Lewis nightmare” left behind by former occupant Theresa May.
Meanwhile, Boris and Carrie Johnson no longer plan to host a wedding party at Chequers, which was reportedly to be held there despite the prime minister entering his last days as caretaker leader.
The pair wed in a low-key ceremony at Westminster Cathedral last year.
It was known Mr and Mrs Johnson planned to have a larger celebration in 2022, as Covid restrictions were likely to be relaxed.
They were said to have sent save-the-date cards to family and friends for the celebration on July 30.
The Evening Standard reported last month that this would take the form of a “champagne-soaked soiree” at the PM’s country residence to celebrate the couple’s first anniversary.
It had been suggested that Mr Johnson wanted to stay on as a caretaker prime minister in part to see this through – although this claim was denied by Downing Street.
The PA news agency understands the pair are now planning to move the event to a different location.
The Sun newspaper quotes sources who label as “frankly absurd” any suggestion the wedding event had an influence on Mr Johnson’s desire to stay on as caretaker.
Newly-installed Education Secretary James Cleverly had earlier told Radio 4’s Today programme that a new prime minister should let the couple have their wedding party at Chequers even if Mr Johnson is gone by then.
Mr Cleverly said: “Private functions like that do not impose a burden on the public purse.
“I think it’s churlish to be negative about two people who want to celebrate their marriage and their love for each other.”