THE Labour Party have reported former prime minister Boris Johnson to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.
It comes following allegations that BBC chairman Richard Sharp helped Johnson to guarantee a loan of up to £800,000 just weeks before he was selected for his current position.
Labour chair Anneliese Dodds has written to Daniel Greenberg CB, who is set to become the parliamentary commissioner for standards, raising concerns about the reports and suggested it could have constituted a breach of the Code of Conduct for MPs.
Dodds said: “The financial affairs of this disgraced former prime minister just keep getting murkier, dragging the Conservative Party deeper into yet another quagmire of sleaze.
“Serious questions need to be asked of Johnson: why has this money never been declared, and what exactly did he promise these very generous friends in return for such lavish loans?”
The Sunday Times reported that Sharp was involved in talks about financing Johnson’s Downing Street lifestyle in November and December 2020.
It is said that Canadian businessman Sam Blyth, a distant cousin of Johnson, raised the idea of acting as the former prime minister’s guarantor and reportedly asked Sharp for advice on the best way forward.
The paper reported that the now BBC chairman agreed to help introduce Blyth to Simon Case, the cabinet secretary and head of the civil service shortly after.
In Dodds’ letter to Greenberg, the MP for Oxford East said that the “lack of transparency” on the issue could “call into question the process by which the chairman of the BBC was appointed” – as this selection was in its final stages at the time.
Meanwhile, the SNP has also called for an independent inquiry, with Kirsty Blackman saying the situation “reeks of Tory sleaze”.
“The UK Government must establish an independent inquiry to assess the circumstances of this loan, the propriety of the arrangement, the ethics of the appointment, and whether any rules were broken by Johnson, the UK Government, or the BBC chairman”, she said.
A BBC spokesman said: “The BBC plays no role in the recruitment of the chair and any questions are a matter for the government.”
In response to the report, Sharp said: “There is not a conflict when I simply connected, at his request, Mr Blyth with the cabinet secretary and had no further involvement whatsoever.”
A spokesman for Johnson told the newspaper the report was “rubbish” and that “Sharp “has never given any financial advice to Boris Johnson, nor has Mr Johnson sought any financial advice from him”.
They added: “There has never been any remuneration or compensation to Mr Sharp from Boris Johnson for this or any other service.
“Mr Johnson did indeed have dinner with Mr Sharp, whom he has known for almost 20 years, and with his cousin. So what? Big deal.
“All Mr Johnson’s financial arrangements have been properly declared and registered on the advice of officials.”
