Boris Johnson has again refused to deny he had a sexual relationship with a former model turned businesswoman who received thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money in grants,
The Prime Minister was given several chances to rule out an affair when he was London mayor with Jennifer Arcuri, after their relationship became the focus of several investigations.
Margot James, the former culture minister, said today she was ‘appalled’ Ms Arcuri’s firm had received business start-up cash.
Speaking to broadcasters at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester Mr Johnson avoided giving a straight answer about his relationship with the blonde American.
Asked directly by Sky’s Beth Rigby whether they had an affair he said: ‘I’ve said what I have to say about that matter.’
She pressed him further, saying: ‘The reason I ask – I don’t want to talk about your private life. It’s about whether you misused public money – that’s why i’m asking if you were having a sexual relationship?’
He replied: ‘I can certainly say there was absolutely no question of that at all.’
But he did not clarify if that was a reference to the relationship or the misuse of money.
Jennifer Arcuri’s laptop from when she was close to prime minister Boris Johnson, pictured together in an undated photograph, has been stolen
Friends of the American businesswoman claimed she had an affair with Mr Johnson while he was serving as Mayor of London and married to his estranged wife Marina Wheeler.
The American businesswoman, pictured with Boris Johnson at an InnoTech Summit in 2013, is reportedly ‘terrified’ information on the laptop could be ‘hawked around’
David Enrich, finance editor of the New York Times, said classmates on an MBA course in London told him about the affair.
He told the Sunday Times: ‘Two friends from her business class said they had been told by Arcuri that she was sleeping with Boris.’
The Prime Minister has been involved in an ongoing scandal over his relationship with Ms Arcuri after it was reported that she was given £126,000 in public money.
The Department for Culture Media and Sport is now investigating its grant to one of Ms Arcuri’s firms.
It is thought that a UK phone number made the company, which is now run from California, eligible for the £100,000 grant.
Ms James told the Guardian today: ‘I’m totally appalled that the money was awarded to this company.
‘Although it didn’t get my sign-off I was the minister responsible at the time, so that’s why I want to know now, belatedly, what happened.’
It came after it was reported that Ms Arcuri’s laptop had been stolen, leaving her petrified that information could be leaked.
It was taken within the last 10 days, while she was in the UK, and now she fears personal details relating to her friendship with the Prime Minister could be made public, The Mirror claimed.
The computer contained photographs, calendar dates and emails from the time when Ms Arcuri was acquainted with Mr Johnson.
A friends of the former model, 34, told the paper: ‘Jennifer is extremely agitated and upset.
‘Her laptop contains so much personal information covering the time she knew Boris.
‘There are pictures, emails and documents on the laptop which she is terrified could be hawked around if someone gains access to it.’
It is thought Ms Arcuri’s laptop was taken within the last 10 days, while she was in the UK. The former model is pictured with Boris Johnson in 2014, when he was the mayor of London
Yesterday friends of the businesswoman, pictured, claimed she had an affair with Mr Johnson while he was serving as Mayor of London and married to his estranged wife Marina Wheeler
It was also reported that she had access to three trade missions led by Mr Johnson while he was the capital’s mayor.
Mr Johnson appeared at an event run by Ms Arcuri’s company Innotech in 2012.
The company was given more than £10,000 in sponsorship from one of the London mayor’s funds a year later.
An investigation has been launched by the Greater London Authority into Mr Johnson’s relationship with Ms Arcuri, with the police watchdog being asked to look into claims of misconduct.
Both Mr Johnson and Ms Arcuri, pictured together in 2013, have denied any wrongdoing
Mr Johnson has consistently denied any wrongdoing or giving Ms Arcuri’s companies preferential treatment.
On Sunday he said: ‘There was no interest to declare. Let’s be absolutely clear, I am very, very proud of everything that we did and certainly everything that I did as mayor’
‘Everything was done in accordance with the code… and everything was done with full propriety.’
Ms Arcuri has also denied she did anything wrong.