Oh my word…his hair will be furiously ruffled now! 
PM cleared of misconduct but acted unwisely, says watchdog
Boris Johnson did not break the ministerial code over the funding of the Downing Street flat refurbishment, a report says. But Lord Geidt, the prime minister’s adviser on standards, found he had “unwisely” allowed work to go ahead without “more rigorous regard” for how it would be paid for *.
He confirmed that a Tory donor had settled an invoice for some costs. But Mr Johnson had been unaware of this, Lord Geidt added. No conflict of interest had arisen over the refurbishment, which began in spring when the prime minister was in hospital with Covid, he said.
The government said official advice had been followed “throughout”.
Surprise, surprise … it’s a whitewash … :roll:
- In effect, BJ didn’t care who paid for the refurbishment as long as it wasn’t him …
Utter baloney!!! Gosh it makes me so mad!
Unaware of Tory donor settling invoice, my arse! Also “more rigorous regard”?? What does he do then - flap his hand dismissively at Carrie saying “Oh do what you like, love, somebody somewhere will pay for it” I think NOT!
Conservative Party accounts show its central office provided a “bridging loan” of £52,802 to cover the works after being invoiced by the Cabinet Office in June last year.
The party was “reimbursed in full” by Lord Brownlow in October, before Mr Johnson “settled the costs” incurred by the Conservative peer in March.
A Conservative spokesman said: “As stated, the party provided a short-term bridging loan that was reimbursed to the party in full.”
Prime ministers receive an annual public grant of £30,000 to spend on their Downing Street living quarters, which are publicly-owned.
But a Cabinet Office report in July said more than £28,000 was spent on painting and sanding floorboards alone.
And invoices for works, including services of interior designer Lulu Lytle, pushed the total costs significantly beyond the limit of public funding.
In May, an investigation by the prime minister’s adviser on standards, Lord Geidt, cleared Mr Johnson of misconduct although it found he should have been more “rigorous” in finding out how the costs were covered.
While the report found Lord Brownlow had paid an invoice for some of the costs, it did not say how much he had put up to fund the refurbishment.
So, presumably, according to the accounts, Brownlow paid off the loan to save BJ the loan interest … credible but I still believe that BJ had no intention of paying Brownlow back … until the “gift” was revealed … 
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The Electoral Commission also said the party failed to “keep a proper accounting record” around the donation.
Over £52,000 was given to the party by Lord Brownlow for the work, initially paid for by the Cabinet Office.
A Tory spokesman said the party was considering whether to appeal and would make a decision within 28 days.
You’d think that the political party for bankers would have a competent accountant, wouldn’t you … 
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Invoices paid
Publishing its findings on Thursday, the Electoral Commission said Huntswood Associates Limited - whose director is Lord Brownlow - transferred £67,801.72 to the party in October 2020.
The peer told the Commission while £15,000 went towards covering an event, the remainder went to the Cabinet Office, who had paid three invoices over the summer, totalling £52,801.72, for the refurbishment of the private residence at 11 Downing Street.
Lord Brownlow also paid a number of additional invoices relating to the refurbishment directly to suppliers, totalling £59,747.40 - making the total cost of the works £112,549.12.
The Conservative Party declared the £15,000 event donation in its quarterly donation report to the Commission, but left out the other two sums for the refurbishment.
The watchdog concluded the £52,801.72 should have been declared accurately - rather than as a loan or as part of a trust.
The direct payments to suppliers did not need to be declared, as there was no evidence the party would pay him back or that the sum was covering costs already met by the Tories.
But it criticised the party’s accounting records connected to the whole incident.
As a result, the Conservatives were fined £16,250 for failing to accurately report the full value of the donation from Huntswood Associates and £1,550 for contravening the requirement to keep proper accounting records.
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Letters between Boris Johnson and his independent standards adviser on who paid for the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat will be published next month, the BBC has been told.
The Financial Times has reported that the prime minister will be cleared of breaking the ministerial code and misleading adviser Lord Geidt.
Downing Street declined to comment.
The Cabinet Office, which co-ordinates government policy, said it would not comment on speculation.
Lord Geidt cleared the prime minister in May of a conflict of interest after it emerged that Conservative peer Lord Brownlow had donated £52,000 to help cover the costs of the refurbishment of his flat above No 11 Downing Street.
But the adviser revisited his inquiry after new information emerged, to see if he had been misled by the prime minister.
The Financial Times reported that, while Mr Johnson is set to be criticised in the fresh probe, he will be cleared of breaking the ministerial code, which sets rules for conduct in office. The newspaper also suggested he would not be found to have deceived his adviser.
In May, Lord Geidt said the prime minister appeared not to be aware that Lord Brownlow had contributed from his own pocket.
But in December, the Electoral Commission said in a report that Mr Johnson had sent a WhatsApp message to Lord Brownlow in November 2020 to ask for extra money.
Downing Street argued that the prime minster was “not aware of the underlying details” of Lord Brownlow’s donations, when asked about the apparent discrepancy between what he told Lord Geidt and what the Electoral Commission said.
His spokesman said Mr Johnson had thought Lord Brownlow was overseeing the money, but he did not realise the peer was providing the money himself.
When the apparent discrepancy emerged, the BBC was told Lord Geidt was unhappy but was not considering quitting.
No surprise there, then … 
Boris Johnson has been criticised by his standards adviser over an official inquiry into the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat.
Mr Johnson said he was sorry that messages he had exchanged with a Tory peer who initially paid for the revamp had not been disclosed to Lord Geidt.
The messages were revealed during a separate inquiry by the elections watchdog on how the works were funded.
Lord Geidt said it demonstrated “insufficient” respect for his role. He added they would not have changed the verdict of his own investigation last year that Mr Johnson had not breached the ministerial rulebook. But, in an exchange of letters with Mr Johnson, he said they would have led him to question some of the conclusions of the report, published in May.
Replying to Lord Geidt, Mr Johnson offered a “humble and sincere apology”, and said the messages were sent from a previous mobile phone, which he did not have access to, and he “did not recall the message exchange”.
Mr Johnson’s text exchange with Lord Brownlow, published on Thursday, shows on 29 November the PM asked the Tory peer whether he could ask an interior designer contracted for the work to make contact with him to approve fresh redecorations.
Lord Brownlow had been asked by Mr Johnson to oversee a charitable trust to fund the work - an idea that was later abandoned.
Mr Johnson told Lord Brownlow that parts of his official residence, where refurbishment work began in April 2020, were “still a bit of a tip” and he was keen to allow the designer, Lulu Lytle, to continue with the renovations.
A couple of hours later, Lord Brownlow replied, and then in a subsequent message, he added that the trust had not yet been set up but “approval is a doddle as it’s only me and I know where the £ will come from”.
In his original report, Lord Geidt cleared the PM of a conflict of interest, after it emerged that Lord Brownlow had donated £52,000 to help cover costs.
He said the prime minister appeared not to be aware that Lord Brownlow had initially paid for the redecorations from his own pocket.
But he revisited the original probe after it was revealed the PM had sent WhatsApp messages to the Tory peer in November.
The messages were revealed as part of an investigation by the Electoral Commission, which fined the Conservatives £17,800 last month for failing to accurately declare Lord Brownlow’s donations.
After the exchange came to light, Downing Street said Mr Johnson had thought Lord Brownlow was overseeing the money, but did not realise the peer was providing the funds himself.
In his letters to the PM, Lord Geidt said he had been told Mr Johnson lost the ability to search for the messages in April 2020, after security changes following news his personal mobile phone number was available online.
However, he said it was “plainly unsatisfactory” he had not been made aware of their existence during his original investigation.
He also expressed “grave concern” that officials in Mr Johnson’s team had not alerted him to them when the phone was later accessed in June 2020, or before the Electoral Commission disclosed their existence in December.
Another BJ lie exposed …
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