DOWNING Street has denied that the Conservative party funded the refurbishment of the Prime Minister's flat. 

A spokeswoman issued a statement this evening saying Boris Johnson paid for any work not covered by the £30,000 taxpayer-funded allowance, out of his own pocket. 

In a statement, a No.10 spokeswoman said: "Any costs of wider refurbishment this year beyond those provided for by the annual allowance have been met by the Prime Minister personally. Conservative Party funds are not being used for this."

It comes after reports that Mr Johnson was considering setting up a charitable trust to fund the work, and further reports that the £58,000 renovation was paid for via a donation to the Tory party.

In March, the former press secretary Allegra Stratton said the Conservative party had not paid for the renovation despite subsequent reports contradicting her. 

The Labour party called for a probe on whether Ms Stratton, who is now the Government's COP26 spokeswoman, had misled Lobby journalists with the comments. 

Deputy leader Angela Rayner wrote to Cabinet Secretary Simon Case demanding that he investigate, saying: "As a special adviser, Allegra Stratton is bound by the Civil Service Code which sets out standards of integrity and honesty required from public officials,” Ms Rayner said.

“Therefore, I would urge you to build into your review an investigation into whether the former press secretary knowingly misled journalists and the public, or was misled herself by senior members of the Government who seem intent on a cover-up.”

The storm over the PM's flat resurfaced after his former senior adviser Dominic Cummings published a series of allegations in his blog on Friday, including that he thought Mr Johnson's plans to fund the flat renovation using "secret" donors were "unethical, foolish and possibly illegal". 

He wrote: “The PM stopped speaking to me about this matter in 2020 as I told him I thought his plans to have donors secretly pay for the renovation were unethical, foolish, possibly illegal and almost certainly broke the rules on proper disclosure of political donations if conducted in the way he intended.

“I refused to help him organise these payments. My knowledge about them is therefore limited.

“I would be happy to tell the Cabinet Secretary or Electoral Commission what I know concerning this matter.”

Earlier today the SNP likened Mr Johnson to executed French king Louis XVI (16th), husband of Marie Antoinette who lived a lavish lifestyle in the Palace of Versailles before his death during the French revolution.