Boris Johnson says Downing Street looked like a ‘crack den’ before refurb
The Downing Street flat where Boris Johnson lived with his wife Carrie looked like a ‘crack den’ before it was refurbished, the former Prime Minister has said.
He told LBC a controversial redesign of the flat above No 11 – which is believed to have cost more than £110,000 – was badly needed after he first moved in.
Johnson said: ‘The whole thing looked a bit like a crack den, to be totally honest with you, and it needed to be refurbished.’
The ex-Tory leader insisted he paid for the full thing and denied the wallpaper used was gold, as was suggested at the time.
Since stepping down as PM in 2022 following several scandals – most notably Partygate – Johnson has repeatedly refused to rule out a return to frontline politics.
He resigned as an MP in June last year after an investigation into Partygate recommended he should be suspended for misleading the House of Commons over gatherings held in Downing Street over lockdown.
Since then, he has been busy writing a 730-page memoir titled Unleashed, which will be released in shops later this week.
Later in his appearance on LBC to promote the book this morning, he criticised Keir Starmer for taking freebies from his mates – despite having donors pay for his wedding and accommodation for his family.
Sir Keir come under enormous pressure over donations of clothes, glasses and tickets he has received since becoming Labour leader, with concerns raised over the Downing Street pass given to top donor Lord Waheed Alli after the election.
The furore culminated in the announcement last week that he has paid back more than £6,000 in gifts and hospitality since taking over as PM in July.
And the radio interview, his predecessor in the office took the opportunity to hammer him, saying: ‘That looks greedy, right? But if you then give the guy a pass to Number 10, that looks corrupt.
‘And so I just don’t get it. I don’t know why he’s still wearing those spectacles. Well, apart from the fact he can’t see. He can’t see what a mess he’s making of things.’
Johnson received a £23,853 donation from his friends Lord Anthony and Lady Carole Bamford in July 2022 for the cost of hiring items including a marquee and ice cream van for his wedding to his wife Carrie.
The Bamfords also gave Johnson’s family use of accommodation worth tens of thousands of pounds on multiple occasions in 2022 and 2023.
Beyond the flat refurb, further rows during his tenure as prime minister included one over funding for a trip to the Caribbean island of Mustique in 2019.
Johnson later said he could have led the Conservatives to a historic victory at the 2024 General Election if he was still in charge.
In a choice of words that unintentionally recalled the betting scandal that shook the Tory campaign this year, he told Sky News: ‘I would have put money on myself.’
In the weeks ahead of the election, several politicians and Westminster figures were accused of placing bets on the timing of the vote despite having insider knowledge.
London’s Metropolitan Police dropped its investigation into the allegations in August with insufficient evidence to bring convictions.
A win for the Conservatives on July 4 would have likely led the party to a 19-year stretch in power, longer than a single party has achieved for 200 years.
But ultimately, the election was a disaster for the Tories, and they were reduced to having fewer MPs in parliament than at any other time in its history.
Johnson accused the party leadership of making a ‘goof’ in the lead-up to the vote, adding: ‘Do I think we would have won in 2024 if I’d stayed on? Yes, I do.
‘Because Starmer wasn’t setting the world on fire, we were a tiny bit behind in the polls, Reform was nowhere, and I won the mayoralty in London when we were 15 points behind nationally.’
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