Boris Johnson must face official investigation over public money awarded to ex-model friend, Labour demands

Labour is demanding an investigation by Whitehall’s most senior civil servant into the possible misuse of public funds in relation to grants made to a female friend of prime minister Boris Johnson when he was mayor of London.

Some of the grants are already subject to an investigation by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and current mayor Sadiq Khan has ordered City Hall officials to look into the circumstances of other awards.

The allegations about the award of £126,000 in public money to model-turned-tech-entrepreneur Jennifer Arcuri, as well as claims that she was given a privileged place on his overseas trade trips as mayor, threaten to overshadow the PM’s ongoing trip to the United Nations in New York.

On his flight to the US, Mr Johnson repeatedly refused to answer reporters’ questions about his relationship with Ms Arcuri.

According to a report in the Sunday Times, Mr Johnson was a regular visitor to Ms Arcuri's flat in Shoreditch, east London and attended numerous events promoting her fledgling company.

But, when asked six times about the explosive allegations, the prime minister gave the same reply: “I’m here to talk about what we are doing at the UN.”

Mr Johnson refused to say whether he denied any conflict of interest, dodged the issue of whether an inquiry was needed to clear up the matter and declined to say if he and Ms Arcuri - who was in her 20s at the time of their acquaintanceship - had been lovers.

DCMS is investigating Sunday Times claims that a business operated by Ms Arcuri obtained a £100,000 grant for UK-based companies to train people to avoid cyber attacks, despite being based in the US.

Hacker House is UK-registered, but the paper alleged that the Cheshire address supplied in an application for funds from the Cyber Skills Immediate Impact Fund related to a property occupied by Ms Arcuri before her departure for California.

A DCMS spokesman said: “Funding for this scheme was awarded through open and fair competition. We regularly monitor grant initiatives and treat any allegations of impropriety with the utmost seriousness.”

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Mr Khan said the mayor has asked officials to see whether there were any lessons to be learnt from City Hall’s contact with Ms Arcuri during his predecessor’s time in office.

“All the events in question occurred when the previous mayor was in office and any questions about decisions made at that time are for him,” said the spokeswoman.

“Sadiq has asked City Hall officials to look into what processes were followed during that time to ensure that any lessons are learned for the future.”

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Labour’s shadow Cabinet Office minister Jon Trickett said the allegations should be probed by cabinet secretary Sir Mark Sedwill.

"With Boris Johnson refusing to answer questions about these allegations of serious conflicts of interest, abuse of power and misuse of public funds, the cabinet secretary should launch an investigation,” said Mr Trickett.

"Despite what his life of privilege has led him to believe, Johnson is not above the law and cannot duck and dodge responsibility. This is a matter of the integrity of the prime minister, who appears to think he can get away with anything."

According to The Sunday Times, US citizen Ms Arcuri described Mr Johnson as “one of her best friends”.

It said evidence showed that, in 2013, her new business received £10,000 in sponsorship cash from an organisation that the future prime minister was responsible for as London mayor.

She was given a £15,000 government grant in 2014, under a programme to encourage foreign entrepreneurs to build businesses in Britain and, in 2018, the £100,000 cyber-security award.

Her business was alleged to have failed to meet the eligibility criteria for any of the three trade trips she attended in the space of just a year.

Initial decisions to turn her down for two of those trips were overturned after intervention by Mr Johnson and his close team in the mayor's office, it was claimed.

One internal email was said to show how she was given access to a New York trade mission after she discussed the matter with the then-mayor and he was said to have been happy for her to take part.

Labour MP David Lammy said: “If the allegations are true, Boris Johnson is guilty of a clear abuse of power and misuse of public funds. He's unfit to be prime minister.”

Former chief prosecutor Nazir Afzal said that, if true, the allegations amounted to “a potentially criminal offence of misconduct in public office”.

Change UK leader Anna Soubry said the claims highlighted Mr Johnson’s ability to evade scrutiny during the current five-week shutdown of parliament.

“Given the Brexit crisis, we planned for parliament to sit through the conference season,” said Ms Soubry. “If Boris Johnson and his government hadn’t shut us down to shut us up, we would be asking questions directly to the PM to confirm or deny these important allegations.”

As mayor, Mr Johnson was bound by the Greater London Authority's code of conduct “to declare any private interests relating to their public duties and to take steps to resolve any conflicts arising in a way that protects the public interest”.

He was also barred from providing any undue benefits to friends.

Downing Street has declined to comment on the allegations.