Boris Johnson will not face an investigation by Parliament’s “sleaze” watchdog into the £112,000 refurbishment of his Downing Street flat, No 10 has confirmed.
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Kathryn Stone had faced calls to investigate whether the Prime Minister broke the rules for MPs after his adviser on ministerial interests, Lord Geidt, revealed last week that Mr Johnson had failed to tell him about exchanges with a Tory donor who helped fund the revamp.
Labour called on Ms Stone to open an inquiry after it emerged that the Prime Minister had discussed a pet project by Lord Brownlow for a “Great Exhibition 2.0” in WhatsApp messages in which he also asked for the go-ahead for the refurbishment work.
READ MORE: Standards watchdog asked to probe 'cosy' texts between Boris Johnson and Lord Brownlow
Ministerial records show that, six weeks later, Lord Brownlow met then-culture secretary Oliver Dowden and representatives of the Albert Hall to discuss his proposal – although it did not in the end proceed.
![Lord Geidt](http://image.assets.pressassociation.io/v2/image/production/74ed1f0eeeecd6fd12c45ad9bd6fad6fY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNjQxOTA3MTI0/2.64608689.jpg?w=640)
Labour said it was “corruption plain and simple” if Lord Brownlow was able to get access to ministers in return for helping to bankroll the redecoration work.
However the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said it had been confirmed that Ms Stone would not be carrying out an inquiry into the matter.
“It is not for me to speak on behalf of her, but I understand she has confirmed they won’t be looking at that,” the spokesman said.
It is understood that Ms Stone wrote to No 10 at the end of last week, making clear that support for ministers in their ministerial activities should be declared through the Ministerial Code – which Mr Johnson did – rather than the Register of Members’ Interests, which she polices.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson chasisted over missing Whatsapps describing No.10 flat as 'a tip'
In his report last week, Lord Geidt said he would not have changed his original conclusion that Mr Johnson did not breach the Ministerial Code if he had been aware of the exchanges with Lord Brownlow, although he made clear his deep unhappiness at the way the issue had been handled.
The Prime Minister said after he learned that the work – which far exceeded the official £30,000 allowance – had been paid for by the Conservative Party, including a donation by Lord Brownlow, he reimbursed the costs from his own pocket.
A previous 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.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel