Opposition parties demand investigation into Johnson’s holiday
Labour and the Liberal Democrats have pushed for an investigation into Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s free use of a a Spanish villa owned by the family of minister Lord Zac Goldsmith.
The opposition parties have called on the prime minister to declare his luxury holiday in October in the MPs’ register of interests, which notably requires the monetary value to be stated.
Johnson instead included the trip in the register of ministers’ interests, which does not require him to detail the value of the gift.
Angela Rayner, deputy Labour leader, wrote to the parliamentary standards commissioner Kathryn Stone to demand an investigation into Johnson’s holiday.
She noted the Goldsmiths’ villa had previously been rented out for £25,000 per week.
She argued Johnson had a “long history of breaching the rules in relation to parliamentary standards and other integrity and anti-corruption measures”.
Wendy Chamberlain, Lib Dem chief whip, backed calls for an inquiry by Stone into Johnson’s holiday.
Downing Street told The Financial Times that Johnson’s holiday was “fully declared in the proper way”.
It said the use of the Goldsmith family’s villa was “a family holiday at the home of longstanding family friends and is unconnected with the PM’s parliamentary and political activities”.
The row about Johnson’s holiday follows a difficult week for the prime minister as sleaze allegations continue to circle the Conservative party.
On Wednesday, the government failed to overhaul the oversight of MPs’ conduct after former minister Owen Paterson was found to have breached lobbying rules to benefit two companies he worked for as a paid consultant.
Paterson has since retired from politics.
Labour also wrote to Stone for a second time on Friday, calling on her to investigate whether Johnson had breached the ministerial code over a controversial refurbishment of his Downing Street flat.
The Electoral Commission is currently investigating the matter.