LONDON _ Jennifer Arcuri, who is at the center of a controversy over her ties to Boris Johnson, said the U.K. Prime Minister cast her aside "like I am some gremlin" once the media began probing their relationship and public funds given to her company.
"I don't understand why you've blocked me and ignored me as if I was some fleeting one-night stand or some girl that you picked up at a bar because I wasn't _ and you know that," Arcuri said in comments directed at Johnson, and which will be broadcast in an interview on ITV's Exposure on Sunday. "I'm terribly heartbroken by the way that you have cast me aside like I am some gremlin."
Controversy surrounding Arcuri has threatened to blight Johnson's Dec. 12 election campaign, as he seeks a parliamentary majority to push through his Brexit withdrawal agreement. The Independent Office for Police Conduct agency is reviewing whether to open a criminal investigation into Johnson's links with the U.S. technology entrepreneur.
Arcuri refused to discuss the exact nature of her and Johnson's relationship, which lasted more than four years, according to the TV program. Johnson, who was mayor of London in 2008 to 2016, has similarly refused to elaborate on it. Both have denied any wrongdoing.
"Any claims of impropriety in office are untrue and unfounded," a Conservative Party spokesperson told the ITV program.
Johnson didn't mention Arcuri in any of nine letters declaring personal interests he wrote to a City Hall monitoring officer during the time of the relationship, the program said.
Johnson's attendance at events organized by Arcuri's company Innotech boosted her business profile, the show said. She also acknowledged that her cyber-security business Hacker House benefited from joining a mayoral trade mission to Tel Aviv in November 2015.
