BOJO UNDERCOVER
Boris Johnson’s tech friend Jennifer Arcuri reveals the secret codename she used to mask his identity
BORIS Johnson faced fresh questions for failing to declare his relationship with Jennifer Arcuri after she revealed how close they were.
The PM’s alleged former lover refused to deny six times that they were lovers for four years when she broke her silence yesterday.
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In an interview with GMB, the American tech entrepreneur revealed Boris visited her in her Shoreditch flat-come-office up to ten times while he was London mayor.
And she gave him the codename Alex the Great – Mr Johnson was christened Alexander – to mask his real identity when he phoned her.
Repeatedly quizzed on whether they had an affair, the ex-model would only say: “I’m not going to be putting myself in a position for you to weaponise my answer.
“It’s no one’s business what private life we had, or didn’t have”.
But Ms Arcuri did admit the pair, who first bonded over their mutual love for writers Voltaire and Shakespeare, “share a very close bond”, adding: “I care about him deeply as a friend”.
She also insisted there was no corruption in their relationship, saying: “Boris never ever gave me favouritism”.
Labour has demanded the PM explain why he failed to declare the friendship, despite Ms Arcuri accompanying him on three foreign trips, talking at four of her events, and her receiving £126,000 of public money in grants.
Asked whether he broke the Greater London Assembly code, the PM would only say yesterday: “No, and I’ve said everything I am going to say on that matter”.
Labour Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said: “Regardless of the exact nature of his relationship with Arcuri, it is clear that she and Boris Johnson were close, and that he misled the public when he said ‘there was no interest to declare’.
“The Prime Minister is unfit for office.”
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London Assembly Member Tom Copley added:”The issue is whether or not he used his position in order to benefit a close personal friend”.
But independent Tory MP Ed Vaizey told BBC2’s Politics Live that the inquiries into Boris Johnson and businesswoman Jennifer Arcuri will “probably be helpful to Boris”.
He said: “I think one is slightly clutching at straws if you’re saying that somebody you get on with, you therefore need to declare an interest”.
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Jennifer Arcuri says she 'cared about him deeply' as Susanna Reid asks her if she loved Boris Johnson
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