Boris Johnson's links with US businesswoman Jennifer Arcuri 'blown out of proportion', environment secretary claims

Boris Johnson's friendship with Jennifer Arcuri has come under scrutiny
Stephanie Cockroft28 September 2019
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Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers has said a complaint against Boris Johnson over his links with American businesswoman Jennifer Arcuri while he was London mayor was “blown out of all proportion”.

The monitoring officer of the Greater London Authority (GLA) has referred the Prime Minister to the Independent Office of Police Conduct to assess whether he should face a criminal investigation for misconduct in public office.

Ms Villiers told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “I think this whole thing has been blown out of all proportion.

“The Prime Minister is very clear that proprieties were observed. This seems to be pretty obviously a politically motivated complaint.

“The Prime Minister has been clear there is nothing to see here. I do feel this is a distraction and it is people seeking to use the complaints process in a highly political way.”

The Sunday Times reported last week that Ms Arcuri, an American who moved to London seven years ago, was given £126,000 in public money and was treated to privileged access to three foreign trade missions led by Mr Johnson while he was mayor.

The Government has since frozen a £100,000 grant to Ms Arcuri's company, Hacker House, pending a review.

London & Partners (L&P) gave firms run by Jennifer Arcuri an estimated £26,000 when Mr Johnson was running City Hall
Jennifer Arcuri/Facebook

It is facing embarrassing questions about the verification process carried out before awarding the money.

Digital Minister Matt Warman told the Commons that his department had done the "usual due diligence" and that the company had a British phone number.

However, numerous reports said calls to the number were directed to an office in California, where Ms Arcuri, 34, is said to now be based.

Mr Johnson has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to his friendship with Ms Arcuri.

The news on the IOPC was greeted with fury in Downing Street, which denounced the referral as a "nakedly political put-up job" on the eve of the Tory Party conference in Manchester. The GLA is headed by Labour mayor Sadiq Khan.

A senior Government source said no evidence had been provided to support the allegations, and that the Prime Minister had been given no opportunity to respond prior to the release of a GLA press statement late on Friday.

Theresa Villiers defended Boris Johnson over the links to Jennifer Arcuri
PA

"Due process has not been followed and the timing is overtly political. The public and media will rightly see through such a nakedly political put-up job," the source said.

In a statement, the GLA said that the monitoring officer, Emma Strain, had a "statutory duty" to record any conduct matters which she became aware of relating to the mayor in his role as police and crime commissioner for London.

"The 'conduct matter' has been recorded as allegations have been brought to the attention of the monitoring officer that Boris Johnson maintained a friendship with Jennifer Arcuri and as a result of that friendship allowed Ms Arcuri to participate in trade missions and receive sponsorship monies in circumstances when she and her companies could not have expected otherwise to receive those benefits," the statement said.

"A 'conduct matter' exists where there is information that indicates that a criminal offence may have been committed. It does not mean that this is proved in any way.

"The IOPC will now consider if it is necessary for the matter to be investigated."

A No 10 spokesman said: "The Prime Minister, as mayor of London, did a huge amount of work when selling our capital city around the world, beating the drum for London and the UK.

"Everything was done with propriety and in the normal way."

Mr Johnson said this week that he would comply with an order by the London Assembly to provide details of his links with Ms Arcuri, although he insisted they were "barking up the wrong tree".

The referral to the IOPC is however another potential setback for the Prime Minister at the end of a tumultuous week which saw the Supreme Court rule that his controversial decision to suspend Parliament for five weeks was unlawful.

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