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Johnson urged to correct press secretary's response to his affair with Jennifer Arcuri

BORIS JOHNSON was urged today to correct responses given by his press secretary to questions about his affair with Jennifer Arcuri.

Allegra Stratton said that there was “no case to answer” over claims that Mr Johnson had used his position while mayor of London to secure favourable treatment for Ms Arcuri.

Ms Stratton claimed that an Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) report had found that claims regarding a potential breach of the rules — in giving public money and high-level access to Ms Arcuri — were “untrue and unfounded.”

Tech entrepreneur and “ethical hacker” Ms Arcuri asserted, in a recent interview with the Sunday Mirror, that she and Mr Johnson had an affair when he was mayor, from 2012 to 2016.

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner wrote to Mr Johnson today demanding that he correct the record, pointing out that the IOPC report did not say that a potential breach of the rules was “untrue and unfounded.”

Mr Johnson managed to avoid a criminal investigation after the IOPC found no evidence that he had influenced the payment of public funds to Ms Arcuri’s companies or secured her participation in foreign trade trips led by him.

However, the IOPC said that he should have declared their “close association” as a conflict of interest.

The PM’s conduct in public office still faces a probe by the Greater London Authority’s oversight committee.

Ms Rayner also demanded that the PMe publish the details of firms awarded £2 billion worth of fast-tracked government contracts during the Covid pandemic via a “VIP lane” thanks to existing relationships with Tory ministers and MPs.

She wrote: “The British people deserve to know that taxpayers’ money is spent with honesty and integrity on the basis of what you know, not who you know.”

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