Boris Johnson has been reported to the standards watchdog after refusing to declare how much his freebie holiday at a Tory chum's villa was worth.
The Prime Minister will try to use a loophole to avoid declaring his break in Marbella, Spain, courtesy of millionaire peer Zac Goldsmith's family, on the MPs' register of interests.
He has made a ministerial declaration - but unlike the Commons register, it does not give a cost estimate for the stay last month.
No10 claimed his decision was within the rules because Lord Goldsmith is a “family friend”.
The Commons register says MPs do not need to declare “family holidays”, or foreign trips that are “wholly unconnected parliamentary or political activities”.
Yet Mr Johnson made Lord Goldsmith a peer and gave him a government job less than two years ago.
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said the refusal to declare the holiday “appears to be a breach of the House Code of Conduct”.
She demanded the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner launch an investigation, telling her in a letter: “It is worth noting that Lord Goldsmith was given a peerage and a ministerial job by Mr Johnson.
“The public could understandably draw the conclusion in this case that the Prime Minister is dishing out cushy jobs to his friends who pay for his luxury holidays.”
Mr Johnson went to the luxury complex with wife Carrie and son Wilfred and was spotted painting by the Mirror.
Labour quoted reports suggesting the villa is rented out for £25,000 a week, adding the value is likely to have been “substantial”.
Last year Commons authorities ruled Mr Johnson did have to declare a £15,000 freebie break on the Caribbean island of Mustique.
But No10 are claiming Marbella is different because the host was a Tory member, rather than a Tory donor, and is a family friend.
A No10 spokesman said: “The declarations in terms of the transparency requirements have been met by the Prime Minister.”
He added: "Given the hospitality was provided by another minister, it’s right that the Prime Minister made this declaration in his ministerial capacity to ensure sufficient transparency.
“I’d also point out this was a family holiday at the home of long standing family friends and is unconnected with the PM’s parliamentary and political activities.
“The PM has written to the House of Commons registrar to set out that this holiday has been declared under the Ministerial Code, because the arrangement is with another minister.”
Boris Johnson has twice previously broken the MPs' code of conduct.
No10 refused to say if the registrar in Parliament had accepted the arrangement.
The Mirror revealed last month that the PM had jetted off for a holiday in Lord Goldsmith's luxury hideaway outside Marbella after the Conservative Party conference last month.
Mr Johnson was pictured painting at an easel in the sunshine as Brits faced in a cost of living crisis with food and labour shortages, and rising prices.
Lib Dem Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain said: "Boris Johnson and the Tories have shown this week they don't have a shred of integrity left.
"The Independent Standards Commissioner should urgently launch an investigation into whether Boris Johnson breached the code of conduct by failing to properly declare his holiday.
"The Tories have shown they can't be trusted to mark their own homework on this issue. They are now the party of sleaze."
The decision not to declare the trip's value comes despite sleaze claims engulfing the Prime Minister this week.
The PM ordered Tory MPs to rip up ethics rules and block a 30-day suspension of Owen Paterson for lobbying breaches.
The vote passed, but more than 100 Conservatives refused to back the plans and Keir Starmer accused the government of corruption.
He U-turned less than 24 hours later, as Labour boycotted the body which would have drawn up new standards. Mr Paterson later resigned as a Tory MP.
A No10 spokesman refused to deny claims that some Tory MPs were threatened with less government funding in their seats if they refused to back the rules shake-up.
He said: “You’ll appreciate that questions around whipping aren’t ones for me. More broadly I’d say there’s a lot of speculation and reporting around today which I’m just not going to get into. But you are aware we support the principle of a right of appeal.”
A No10 spokesman also repeatedly refused to rule out the possibility of shamed MP Owen Paterson getting a peerage.
The spokesman said: “There’s a formal process for peerages, and I’m not in a position to comment on speculation.”
No10 sources did, however, insist it was untrue that Boris Johnson and Owen Paterson discussed a peerage in their phone call on Thursday.
