Boris JohnsonThe controversial renovation of his official Downing Street flat cost more than $235,000, a leaked copy of the bill suggests.
The documents that the outgoing Prime Minister and his wife Carrie Johnson ordered for their apartment from the posh Soane Britain firm of interior designer Lulu Lytle include a rug worth €8275 and 10 rolls of wallpaper worth €266 each, according to the document obtained by The Independent.
The bill also listed a drinks trolley for €4,345, two sofas worth more than €17,735 and dining room chairs for €13,242, with the cheapest item – a kitchen tablecloth – for €590.
The reports are likely to reopen the controversy surrounding the lavish condo overhaul and how it was financed.
The Cabinet Office, where the leak allegedly came from, referred the PA news agency to No. 10, which it contacted for comment. Soane Britain declined to comment.
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The flat revamp was one in a series of scandals surrounding Mr Johnson’s leadership, which eventually led to his party turning against him and forcing his dramatic resignation on Thursday.
In May 2021, Mr Johnson asked his then Ministerial Interests Adviser, Lord Geidt, to investigate allegations that he had secretly asked Tory donors to pay the bill for the refurbishment, which was much higher than the annual public subsidy. of €35,470 allocated to the Prime Minister to be spent on his living quarters.
Lord Geidt acquitted Mr Johnson of violating the ministerial code and said that when Mr Johnson learned that the bill had been paid by the Conservative Party – including a donation from Tory donor Lord Brownlow – he paid them out of his own pocket. reimbursed.
However, after further investigation by the Election Commission, the party was fined €21,045 for failing to correctly declare a donation of €79,200 from a company controlled by Lord Brownlow.
It also revealed that Mr Johnson had exchanged WhatsApp messages with Lord Brownlow about the November 2020 refurbishment that had not been disclosed to Lord Geidt.
This raised questions about what Mr Johnson knew about the source of the donations and whether Lord Brownlow could gain access to ministers in exchange for helping fund the work.
Johnson is said to have complained at the time that the costs were “totally out of control” and that his then-fiance Carrie Symonds “purchased gold wallpaper”.
Ms Symonds, as she was then, reportedly saw the overhaul as necessary to rid the Prime Minister’s residence of the “John Lewis nightmare” left behind by former resident Theresa May.