Party co-chairman Ben Elliot is said to have approved payments of more than £10,000 to the Prime Minister's lawyers. The cash was handed over weeks after Mr Johnson entered No10 in July 2019.

He was at the time facing police watchdog inquiries over whether as London mayor he had any influence over the payment of £126,000 of public funds to Miss Arcuri. The Independent Office for Police Conduct cleared him last year.

It defended the decision, saying it was a 'party political matter' in response to a 'politically motivated' attack by Labour, but it refused to say how much it spent. A Conservative HQ source said the Commons authorities had ruled there was no need for the Prime Minister to declare the payment as a donation.

But the disclosure that Tory funds have been used to pay for the consequences of his affair with Miss Arcuri and fiancee Miss Symonds' expensive taste in wallpaper is certain to lead to more criticism of Mr Johnson's colourful and costly love life. It also highlights the influential role of Mr Elliot, nephew of the Duchess of Cornwall and a close political and personal ally of both Mr Johnson and Miss Symonds.

Mr Johnson is facing the threat of a new inquiry by the Greater London Assembly's oversight committee over claims that he gave preferential treatment to Miss Arcuri and her companies.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ri-affair.html



No-one, I imagine, cares about BJ's love-life (it's hardly an appealing image) but his use of party and public funds for "private" purposes once again exposes the amorality of the Johnson administration .....

No-one, I imagine, cares about BJ's love-life (it's hardly an appealing image)