Raab dismisses claim donor was asked to pay for Johnson’s nanny

Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, has said he does not know if a Conservative donor was asked to pay for Boris Johnson’s childcare costs, amid new allegations of undeclared donations and loans to fund the prime minister’s lifestyle.




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Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters

Following reports that Johnson sought payments from a donor to help pay for his one-year-old son’s care, Raab told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “I have no idea, you don’t have conversations like that with the PM. I can’t comment on every little bit of gossip that’s in the newspapers. The last thing you asked me about, I think, is an example of tittle-tattle.”




© Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters
Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab in June 2019.

It comes as Downing Street attempts to move on from a torrid week for the Conservative party before elections across the UK on Thursday. Johnson’s former chief aide Dominic Cummings claimed that the prime minister had engaged in an “unethical, foolish, possibly illegal” scheme to get donors secretly to fund the refurbishment of his residence.

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It has prompted three inquiries into whether Johnson and the Conservative party have broken strict rules on declarations of funds.

Money from the Tory donor David Brownlow was allegedly used to fund part of a £200,000 renovation to remove the “John Lewis nightmare” in the flat above No 11 Downing Street where Johnson resides with his fiancee, Carrie Symonds, and their son, Wilfred.

The Sunday Times reports that there was a second invoice settled by a third party – believed to be another Conservative donor – directly with the supplier. Downing Street refused to comment on this claim.

Yet another Tory donor told the same newspaper that they were asked to foot the bill for a nanny for Wilfred. The donor is alleged to have said: “I don’t mind paying for leaflets but I resent being asked to pay to literally wipe the prime minister’s baby’s bottom.”

Asked if there was a second invoice for refurbishments of the No 11 flat settled directly with a supplier, Raab said: “As the prime minister has set out this week, he covered the cost himself, he’s followed all the relevant codes of conduct at all relevant times, he took official advice all along the way.

“There are three reviews now, I think, into this and I think the right thing for me to do is not add political commentary that could otherwise prejudice those reviews, but to respect the integrity of them.”

A No 10 spokesperson said: “The prime minister has covered the cost of all childcare.” She did not respond when asked if Johnson paid for the original bill himself or had reimbursed somebody else.

As most Conservatives sought to move on from the row, the leader of the Scottish Tories, Douglas Ross, said Johnson should resign if he is found to have broken the ministerial code of conduct.

Ross said: “Of course. I think people expect the highest standards of those in the highest office of the land and that is why people are looking at the investigations and waiting for the answers.”

Two new polls suggest the Conservatives’ lead over Labour has been cut before Thursday’s local elections in England and votes for the parliaments in Scotland and Wales.

The polls will raise concerns among Conservatives that recent “sleaze” allegations battering Johnson are beginning to turn some voters off. Johnson has been forced to deny saying he would rather see “bodies pile high” than impose a third coronavirus lockdown, and is caught in a lobbying row around the collapse of Greensill Capital.

The Electoral Commission has launched an investigation into whether any donations or loans to pay for the flat refurbishment were properly declared. The standards commissioner has been asked by Labour to examine whether Johnson has broken MPs’ rules, and Christopher Geidt, Johnson’s new adviser on ministerial standards, has been asked to investigate if he has broken the ministerial code – although Johnson has the right to veto his findings.

Meanwhile, there are several inquiries into the collapse of Greensill and efforts to personally lobby senior ministers including the chancellor, Rishi Sunak.

The elections on Thursday will be the first major electoral test for the Conservatives and Keir Starmer’s Labour party since the 2019 general election.

Source: Thanks msn.com