Fact check: Boris Johnson’s wallpaper claims

For Boris Johnson, every day seems like a season finale. Just this morning the Prime Minister has been pilloried with questions about parties, seen his wife Carrie give birth for the second time and landed Tory members with a £17,800 fine for his Downing Street flat renovation. The Electoral Commission concluded its eight month probe into how the refurbishment was financed by accusing the Conservative Party of failing to ‘keep a proper accounting record’ around the £52,000 donation from Lord Brownlow to pay for the work. A Tory spokesman has said the party is considering whether to appeal and will make a decision within 28 days.

Even if his party decides not to appeal, the PM’s troubles on ‘flat-gate’ are by no means at an end. For the commission has revealed that Johnson sent Brownlow a WhatsApp message in November 2020 requesting additional money from a trust set up to fund the scheme. But in May 2021,  Lord Geidt, the independent adviser on ministers’ interests, was told by Johnson that he did not know who was behind the £52,000 flat refurb donation until February 2021 – just before reports emerged in the media.