The Prime Minister was facing growing calls to “come clean” over who footed the bill for his £15,000 New Year’s getaway to the Caribbean after a Tory donor denied funding the trip.
On the Commons’ register of members’ interests, Boris Johnson declared the stay in a villa on Mustique with his partner Carrie Symonds was a “benefit in kind”, with the donor listed as Mr David Ross, the Carphone Warehouse co-founder.
But the businessman told the Daily Mail he had only helped put the Tory leader in touch with companies providing accommodation. He insisted he is not the owner of the villa and had not paid for the trip.
Jon Trickett, Labour’s shadow cabinet office minister, said if the PM does not reveal who paid for the trip, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards should step in and make him “fess up”.
He told the Standard: “It’s dangerous that the PM thinks he can play fast and loose with rules which were designed to protect the integrity of politics.”
A spokesman for Mr Ross told the Mail: “David called the company who run all the villas but did not pay any monies for this.”
A No 10 spokeswoman said: “All transparency requirements have been followed.”
