Hand-written diary entries which appear to have been made during Jennifer Arcuri’s affair with Boris Johnson suggest that he might have breached rules governing ethical conduct in public office, reported the Observer.
Previously unpublished diary excerpts cited by the outlet show that during his tenure as London's mayor, Boris Johnson was prepared to overrule the advice of staff in his eagerness to promote the fledgling business interests of the then 27-year-old. According to one cited entry, Johnson said to the woman who had dubbed him “Alex the Great”:
“How can I be the thrust – the throttle – your mere footstep as you make your career? Tell me: how I can help you?”
Another entry, dated 2012, states that Johnson, who was ostensibly pursuing a sexual relationship with the businesswoman, told her:
“I can barely control myself whenever I see you. You make me too excited. Baby I couldn’t wait. All year I have been waiting for you. All year. You drove me nuts. I have thought about no woman as I have thought of you.”
However, potentially damaging diary excerpts allege the then-mayor was prepared to ditch advice from his staff regarding promoting Arcuri’s tech company Innotech. A diary entry dated 27 February 2013 refers to Johnson having agreed to Arcuri’s request to appear as keynote speaker at the launch of Innotech. The woman alleges that the “infatuated” UK official had boasted of having rejected the advice of his staff, who had pressured him to steer clear of the meeting.
“I just want you to know they came to me and I crushed them. They said: ‘You can’t do this Innotech in April.’ I said: ‘Yes, I can, I’ll be there.’ I only want to do this to make you happy. How I do wish to make you satisfied,” says the entry.
According to another diary entry, dated November 2012, Boris Johnson told Jennifer Arcuri: “You are going to get me in so much trouble.”
Boris Johnson, then-Mayor of London, speaks with Jennifer Arcuri at an event organised by her company, Innotech, in London on 30 October 2013.
© Photo : Facebook/Jennifer Arcuri
According to the woman, who gave her diaries to journalist John Ware in 2019 after he made an ITV documentary on her relationship with Johnson, the then-mayor was aware of a conflict of interest in thus promoting her work publicly. Purportedly at the request of John Ware, Arcuri has now agreed to allow the publication of some of the extracts of her diaries.
In response to the fresh batch of Arcuri revelations, a government spokesperson was cited as saying:
“As mayor, Boris Johnson followed all the legal requirements in the Greater London Assembly’s [sic] code of conduct at the time.”
BoJo-Arcuri ‘Fling’
During her time in London as a business student in 2012, Jennifer Arcuri met then-London mayor Boris Johnson, with the two reportedly exchanging numbers when she was volunteering on his re-election ‘battle bus’. According to the tech entrepreneur, the couple’s ensuing fling continued until 2016.
London Mayor Boris Johnson (R) stands with his wife Marina Wheeler (L) after casting his vote in the local elections
© AFP 2023 / LEON NEAL
Arcuri claimed said that she would meet Johnson, then married to his now ex-wife, Marina Wheeler, for ‘sex sessions’ at her flat in Shoreditch, East London. The scandalous claims first gained traction just months ahead of the 2019 UK general election.
Reports blamed Johnson for a conflict of interest over failing to declare his personal ties to Jennifer Arcuri amid allegations she received favourable treatment for her business ventures during his eight-year stint as mayor. It was reported that Johnson’s office intervened to give her a place on trade missions to New York and Tel Aviv after she was initially rejected as having failed to meet the criteria. Furthermore, thousands of pounds are said to have been funnelled into her company, Innotech, in 2013 through mayoral funds and government programmes.
Nevertheless, a subsequent probe by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) concluded in 2019 that there was no evidence to suggest that Johnson influenced the payment of sponsorship money to Arcuri's business and no criminal inquiry was required. The 112-page report stated, however, that Johnson should have declared an interest in Arcuri, with his failure to do possibly amounting to a breach of the London assembly’s code of conduct.
“While there was no evidence that Mr Johnson influenced the payment of sponsorship monies or participation in trade missions, there was evidence to suggest that those officers making decisions about sponsorship monies and attendance on trade missions thought that there was a close relationship between Mr Johnson and Ms Arcuri, and this influenced their decision-making,” said IOPC director general, Michael Lockwood.
Boris Johnson has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, claiming he acted with “honesty and integrity” in his business relationship with the US entrepreneur.
Misconduct Allegations Amid Sleaze Row
The current fresh claims reveled in the Arcuri diaries feed into speculations that Johnson may face a potential further investigation into misconduct allegations. The UK Prime Minister has been under fire over a full-blown sleaze row in Whitehall.
Conservative MP Owen Paterson (R) and former UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage arrive for a press conference on the impact of Brexit on the fisheries industry in London on February 28, 2017
© AFP 2023 / JUSTIN TALLIS
Calls for a public inquiry have been growing since the Owen Paterson lobbying row. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer insisted that it was time for the PM to “clean out the filthy Augean stable he has created”. Despite ministers dismissing the row as a “storm in a teacup”, the Commons convened for an emergency debate on the situation on 8 November.
The meeting looked into earlier government-backed plans to review rules on MPs’ standards, after ex-North Shropshire Conservative MP Owen Paterson was found to have broken lobbying rules by the Commons Standards Committee. After a backlash from opposition parties and the media, a vote to overhaul the standards system was withdrawn by ministers a day later, with Paterson since resigning.
With the embattled Johnson refusing to apologise for his handling of the sleaze row engulfing the Government, Downing Street said the Prime Minister acknowledged that it was a “mistake” and “regrettable” that ministers had “conflated” an attempt to overhaul the process governing MPs’ conduct.
Meanwhile, members of the Greater London Authority (GLA) oversight committee, currently investigating allegations of conflict of interest during Johnson’s stint as London mayor, referred to the fresh Arcuri revelations as “significant”. Committee chair Caroline Pidgeon was cited as saying:
“This new material from Jennifer Arcuri is significant and the IOPC [Independent Office for Police Conduct] may wish to consider whether they need to reopen their investigation.”
This comes as the latest Opinium poll for the Observer shows Labour now holding a lead over the Tory Party for the first time since January this year. Labour is at 37% (up 1 point), with the Conservatives registering 36% support (down 1). They are followed by the Liberal Democrats (9%), the Greens (7%), and the SNP 5%.