Boris Johnson and his team’s City Hall emails about affair scandal ‘disappeared’ with no backups after he left mayoralty

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  1. >Boris Johnson broke City Hall rules by failing to transfer his emails as mayor to Greater London Authority officers when he left office – a move which has hampered the investigation into his alleged affair with US entrepreneur Jennifer Arcuri. The Independent Office of Police Conduct has looked at allegations of Misconduct in Public Office against Boris Johnson when he was mayor in the context of his relationship with Jennifer Arcuri, after the GLA’s monitoring officer made a referral to the police watchdog in September 2019.
    >
    >But the probe found that evidence the watchdog believed would have been relevant to its investigations into the scandal had been deleted in breach of City Hall guidance. Ms Arcuri’s business had been given £126,000 in public money, and she secured places on three overseas trade missions led by then-mayor Johnson. Ms Arcuri has since admitted they had an affair but both sides have denied any wrongdoing.
    >
    >The mayor’s office also handed her firm £10,000 in sponsorship cash “networking summits” put together by Ms Arcuri in 2013. Johnson has claimed “everything was done in accordance with the code” and “with full propriety” – and that he had no interest to declare. But revelations about their relationship have cast doubt on the former Conservative mayor’s claims. The GLA’s Code of Conduct says public-office holders including Mr Johnson should not act in any way to gain benefits for families or friends. …

    […]

    >While Mr Johnson was cleared of misconduct in 2020, the IOPC has said that evidence which would have been helpful to its probe “either never existed or has now been deleted” – with the reasons for accepting or rejecting applications to participate in trade missions seemingly not even recorded. The standards body was also unable to find any formal records of the decision to pay sponsorship to Ms Arcuri’s business interests.

    […]

    >Leonie Cooper, told MyLondon that while Mr Johnson was ultimately cleared of the allegations: “The IOPC found that he and his senior appointees did not follow GLA Records Management Guidance- specifically the requirement to transfer their email accounts to Executive Officers, on their departure from office in 2016.
    >
    >“This could mean that potentially relevant material has been lost and cannot be recovered. This applies not just to questions raised about Arcuri, but other matters that could arise relating to his record as Mayor that we might want to scrutinise”.

  2. Not reported much elsewhere at the moment other than:

    >TLE: [PM broke City Hall rules as he is accused of watering down ministerial code](https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/pm-broke-city-hall-rules-as-he-is-accused-of-watering-down-ministerial-code-324422/)
    >
    >Johnson has been accused of watering down the rules for ministers after it was made clear they will not automatically lose their jobs if they breach the Ministerial Code.

    and [on Twitter](https://twitter.com/josiahmortimer/status/1530494268074254336)/%5BNitter%5D(https://nitter.net/josiahmortimer/status/1530494268074254336) by the MyLondon City Hall editor, Josiah Mortimer.

  5. The affair itself is separate to politics. Even politicians are entitled to a private life.

    But he crossed the line when he paid out to her in an absolutely blatant conflict of interest.

  6. Never saw that coming….;/…. If he is that, and we know he is, we have not seen anything yet of the depths of the lies and deceptions he has and will commit.

  7. MyLondon is mostly twitter chatter – don’t get the City Hall title for a start that’s a US/West Wing affectation

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