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London (PA Media-dpa) – Prime Minister Boris Johnson \u00abunwisely\u00bb allowed the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat to go ahead without \u00abmore rigorous regard for how this would be funded.\u00bb<\/p>\nLondon (PA Media-dpa) – Prime Minister Boris Johnson \u00abunwisely\u00bb allowed the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat to go ahead without \u00abmore rigorous regard for how this would be funded.\u00bb<\/p>\n
Lord Geidt, the new adviser on ministerial standards, released his first report on ministers’ interests on Friday, after months of delay.<\/p>\n
He found there had been a \u00absignificant failing\u00bb from officials in how \u00abrigorous\u00bb they were at examining the idea of setting up a trust to fund renovations to Downing Street.<\/p>\n
The PM can use an annual public grant of up to 30,000 pounds (42,000 dollars) to decorate his Downing Street home, but it has been reported that the renovations at No 11 reached up to 200,000.<\/p>\n
There had been discussions about a Downing Street Trust being set up to pay for the work, before legal advice received in June 2020 \u00abraised doubts\u00bb about whether such a body \u00abwould be capable of dealing with costs associated with the private residences,\u00bb said the adviser.<\/p>\n
Mr Johnson’s former chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, claimed in April that the Prime Minister had planned to have Tory donors cover the costs of the refurbishment, a move he deemed \u00abunethical, foolish, [and] possibly illegal.\u00bb<\/p>\n
But Lord Geidt found Mr Johnson had not been aware that in lieu of any such trust to fund the refurbishment being set up, Tory donor Lord Brownlow had been involved.<\/p>\n
His report said: \u00abBy the late autumn of 2020, it was apparent that a trust capable of meeting the original objects (including the costs of refurbishing the No 11 Downing Street residence) was still likely to be many months off.<\/p>\n
\u00abOn October 20 2020, Lord Brownlow confirmed to Cabinet Office officials, including by subsequently ensuring that the minutes properly recorded the fact, that he had the day before settled an invoice for the No 11 Downing Street residence refurbishment works directly with the supplier.<\/p>\n
\u00abCabinet Office officials appear not to have acted on this information to the extent of informing the Prime Minister, let alone offering him advice on his private interests.<\/p>\n
\u00abMoreover, despite the Prime Minister and Lord Brownlow having some limited contact during the following three months, the record shows no evidence that the Prime Minister had been informed by Lord Brownlow that he had personally settled the total costs.\u00bb<\/p>\n
Lord Geidt said \u00abthe Prime Minister – unwisely, in my view – allowed the refurbishment of the apartment at No 11 Downing Street to proceed without more rigorous regard for how this would be funded.\u00bb<\/p>\n
But he said the PM knew \u00abnothing about\u00bb payments for the refurbishment work until reports in the media surfaced.<\/p>\n
He said: \u00abI have also spoken … to the Prime Minister who confirms that he knew nothing about such payments (made by Lord Brownlow) until immediately prior to media reports in February 2021.<\/p>\n
\u00abAt that point, the Prime Minister immediately sought the necessary advice about his interests and, as a consequence, settled the full amount himself on March 8 2021.\u00bb<\/p>\n
Lord Geidt added: \u00abIt is clear from the record that while a serious and genuine endeavour, the (Downing Street) Trust was not subjected to a scheme of rigorous project management by officials.<\/p>\n
\u00abGiven the level of the Prime Minister’s expectations for the trust to deliver on the objects he had set, this was a significant failing.\u00bb<\/p>\n
A No 10 spokesman said: \u00abLord Geidt’s independent report shows the Prime Minister acted in accordance with the Ministerial Code at all times.<\/p>\n
\u00abThe Prime Minister has made a declaration in his List of Ministerial Interests, as advised by Lord Geidt.<\/p>\n
\u00abCabinet Office officials were engaged and informed throughout and official advice was followed.<\/p>\n
\u00abOther than works funded through the annual allowance, the costs of the wider refurbishment of the flat are not being financed by taxpayers and have been settled by the Prime Minister personally.\u00bb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
London (PA Media-dpa) – Prime Minister Boris Johnson \u00abunwisely\u00bb allowed the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat to go ahead without \u00abmore rigorous regard for how this would be funded.\u00bb Lord Geidt, the new adviser on ministerial standards, released his first report on ministers’ interests on Friday, after months of delay. He found there had<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44418,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[343],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-155140","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-actualidad"},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t