Boris Johnson cleared of breaking MPs’ code of conduct over Mustique holiday
Boris Johnson’s handling of a watchdog’s investigation into the funding of his luxury Caribbean holiday has been criticised but he has been cleared of breaching the MPs’ code of conduct.
The Commons Committee on Standards said on Thursday it was “regrettable” that a full explanation of the funding of the Mustique trip by a Tory donor had not been provided long ago.
But the committee concluded Carphone Warehouse founder David Ross was the donor for £15,000 of accommodation, so the Prime Minister’s “register entry is accurate and complete”.
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The Prime Minister and his partner Carrie Symonds accepted accommodation for a private break in St Vincent and the Grenadines in 2019.
But confusion reigned after Mr Johnson declared in the register of MPs’ interests that he had accepted “accommodation for a private holiday for my partner and me, value £15,000”, citing businessman David Ross as the provider.
A spokesman for Mr Ross then denied the co-founder of the Carphone Warehouse had stumped up any money.
But the Conservative Party donor’s spokesman later clarified his stance, agreeing it was a “benefit in kind” to the PM and Ms Symonds during their private break to the island of Mustique.
The committee said on Thursday: “By Mr Johnson’s and Mr Ross’s own admission, the arrangements for funding Mr Johnson’s holiday accommodation were ad hoc and informal, and do not appear to have been fully explained to Mr Johnson at the outset.
The committee added this matter could have been concluded months ago if Mr Johnson had made more of an effort to clear up existing uncertainties.
“Given that Mr Johnson was twice reprimanded by our predecessor committee in the last Parliament in the space of four months for ‘an over-casual attitude towards obeying the rules of the House’, we would have expected him to have gone the extra mile to ensure there was no uncertainty about the arrangements.
“It is regrettable that a full account and explanation of the funding arrangements for Mr Johnson’s holiday accommodation has only come to light as a result of our own inquiries rather than at an earlier stage. If greater clarity had been made available to the Commissioner at the first instance, this matter could have been cleared up many months ago.”