Harry Yorke and
Gabriel Pogrund
Saturday January 14 2023, 10.00pm GMT, The Sunday Times
Boris Johnson was lying on a sun lounger at a luxury villa in the Dominican Republic when news reached him that Liz Truss had been ousted. He abandoned the holiday, swapped his Bermuda shorts for a suit and hopped on an emergency flight back to London to canvass MPs on a potential comeback.
While the campaign to regain his crown was short-lived, the implications of his sojourn in the Caribbean may be longer-lasting. The owner of the villa where he and his family stayed is Sam Blyth, a multimillionaire Canadian and a distant relative.
Blyth lent Johnson his villa — which he lets out at $5,000 (£4,100) a night — for the holiday and supported his lifestyle in Downing Street by acting as guarantor for a credit facility of up to £800,000 available from February 2021.
Although Johnson’s salary as prime minister — £164,000 — was five times the median UK salary, his lifestyle, including his divorce and childcare payments, meant it was not sufficient.
Officials considered it extraordinary that Johnson was in such a precarious financial situation as to look to rely on another individual. Senior civil servants had conversations about the prospect of the prime minister being unable to pay his annual tax bill.
He had toyed with borrowing from a donor or against his own future earnings, but such ideas did not survive internal scrutiny when his team began discussing his finances in the second half of 2020.
That December, he sought advice from Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, about the Blyth arrangement and received permission from the Cabinet Office propriety and ethics team. Once Lord Geidt was appointed his independent ethics adviser in April 2021, he asked him for a retrospective opinion.
Johnson received the go-ahead in both instances on the explicit basis there was no conflict of interest or the risk of one.
According to a source with direct knowledge, neither Case nor Geidt knew Blyth had appeared on a list of recommended candidates for a six-figure role at the helm of one of Britain’s largest public bodies. In December 2020, the same month Johnson approached Case, Blyth was discussing the role of chief executive at the British Council. Johnson insists that no one ever advanced Blyth’s application for the job on the then prime minister’s behalf.
Last night, a spokesman for Johnson said: “Boris Johnson did not in any way assist with, and was unaware of, any application by Sam Blyth — formal or informal — to serve in any position whatever with the British Council, and neither was anybody in No 10 who was acting on his behalf. As far as he is aware no one in No 10 either knew about this alleged application or did anything to advance it.”
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Blyth, 67, who said: “I am aware of the statement Boris Johnson is making and can confirm the accuracy of his account.”
Solving a money problem
Johnson’s allies had been looking for a way to solve his financial problems — that satisfied the civil service and parliamentary authorities — since February 2020, when his divorce from his second wife, the barrister Marina Wheeler, was finalised, and his girlfriend, Carrie Symonds, was pregnant with their first child.
The prime minister was now earning significantly less than he had as a newspaper columnist — The Daily Telegraph had paid him £275,000 a year for ten hours a month — author and public speaker.
According to a source, Johnson was on the brink of “going broke” and, according to an insider, there was still a very real fear that he would not be able to pay his own annual tax bill.
Ben Elliot, the Tory party chairman at the time, nephew of the now King and co-founder of Quintessentially, a concierge firm for billionaires, was tasked with helping to find a solution.
He and other trusted lieutenants set about testing ideas, among them that of a Downing Street Trust, a fund to support the refurbishment of the Johnsons’ flat above 11 Downing Street. Privately, Elliot told friends the idea was fraught with difficulty, but he reluctantly persevered.
Any solution would need sign-off from the cabinet secretary and civil service ethics officials. If a donor were to step in, their payments would need to be declared in line with parliamentary rules and the ministerial code. They would also have to be free of any potential or perceived conflict of interest. There was the option of Johnson borrowing against his future income but this was deemed improper.
In October 2020, Lord Brownlow, an insurance tycoon who became a Tory donor under Theresa May, agreed to fund the renovation. However, other expenses mounted and more money was needed. Around November, Sam Blyth entered the picture.
A globe-trotting businessman and climbing enthusiast, Blyth had made his money after investing a few thousand dollars in his twenties in an eponymous travel and trekking company, later valued at $50 million, and subsequently founded Canada’s largest private schools network, which he had recently sold to a larger group.
London had become a regular stopover. From time to time he would see Stanley Johnson, now 82, Boris Johnson’s father — their mothers were cousins. But he was unknown in Britain.
Johnson approached Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, to see if Blyth could act as guarantor for a credit facility.
Case passed it onto the Cabinet Office propriety and ethics team (PET) and relayed their view to Johnson: he could accept financial help from Blyth, but with explicit conditions: that there was no conflict of interest, no risk of a conflict of interest and no risk even of the perception of such a conflict. There was no way Blyth could benefit from Johnson’s role as prime minister or influence his conduct. Under the guide relating to the MPs’ code of conduct, only gifts or benefits that “could not reasonably be thought” to be related to an MP’s parliamentary or political activities may be omitted from the financial register of interests covering all MPs. While this includes “purely personal” gifts from family, the rules state that if there is “any doubt” about a donation, the “benefit” should be registered.
The separate ministerial code states ministers must ensure no conflict of interest between their public duties and their private interests. It states: “It is the personal responsibility of each Minister to decide whether and what action is needed to avoid a conflict or the perception of a conflict.”
Johnson refused to say what steps he took to check with Blyth there was no possible conflict when seeking approval for the guarantorship. His spokesman said: “All Boris Johnson’s financial interests are properly declared.” The money was available from February 2021, helping Johnson finance day-to-day expenses. Sources say the money was not earmarked for a specific project or profession but instead “everything” to do with Johnson’s lifestyle as PM.
The internal register of ministerial interests states the facility was up to £800,000. This information is not publicly available because officials did not deem it to be “relevant” for disclosure.
Johnson would not confirm yesterday how much was drawn down.
Whenever you think you’ve reached the bottom of the barrel with Johnson – *there’s always further for him to fall.*
>Although Johnson’s salary as prime minister — £164,000 — was five times the median UK salary, his lifestyle, including his divorce and childcare payments, meant it was not sufficient.
>
>Senior civil servants had conversations about the prospect of the prime minister being unable to pay his annual tax bill.
Pathetic cum stain.
MPs are, rightly, not trusted by the public. They, rightly, have reputations for being untrustworthy, liars, corrupt, in the employ of their donors rather than the public, and so on.
Thus even the mere *suggestion* of a conflict of interest, as seen here, should be treated as if one existed.
Only by MPs being held to a much higher standard and constantly proving their innocence can public faith in them be restored.
3 comments
Harry Yorke and
Gabriel Pogrund
Saturday January 14 2023, 10.00pm GMT, The Sunday Times
Boris Johnson was lying on a sun lounger at a luxury villa in the Dominican Republic when news reached him that Liz Truss had been ousted. He abandoned the holiday, swapped his Bermuda shorts for a suit and hopped on an emergency flight back to London to canvass MPs on a potential comeback.
While the campaign to regain his crown was short-lived, the implications of his sojourn in the Caribbean may be longer-lasting. The owner of the villa where he and his family stayed is Sam Blyth, a multimillionaire Canadian and a distant relative.
Blyth lent Johnson his villa — which he lets out at $5,000 (£4,100) a night — for the holiday and supported his lifestyle in Downing Street by acting as guarantor for a credit facility of up to £800,000 available from February 2021.
Although Johnson’s salary as prime minister — £164,000 — was five times the median UK salary, his lifestyle, including his divorce and childcare payments, meant it was not sufficient.
Officials considered it extraordinary that Johnson was in such a precarious financial situation as to look to rely on another individual. Senior civil servants had conversations about the prospect of the prime minister being unable to pay his annual tax bill.
He had toyed with borrowing from a donor or against his own future earnings, but such ideas did not survive internal scrutiny when his team began discussing his finances in the second half of 2020.
That December, he sought advice from Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, about the Blyth arrangement and received permission from the Cabinet Office propriety and ethics team. Once Lord Geidt was appointed his independent ethics adviser in April 2021, he asked him for a retrospective opinion.
Johnson received the go-ahead in both instances on the explicit basis there was no conflict of interest or the risk of one.
According to a source with direct knowledge, neither Case nor Geidt knew Blyth had appeared on a list of recommended candidates for a six-figure role at the helm of one of Britain’s largest public bodies. In December 2020, the same month Johnson approached Case, Blyth was discussing the role of chief executive at the British Council. Johnson insists that no one ever advanced Blyth’s application for the job on the then prime minister’s behalf.
Last night, a spokesman for Johnson said: “Boris Johnson did not in any way assist with, and was unaware of, any application by Sam Blyth — formal or informal — to serve in any position whatever with the British Council, and neither was anybody in No 10 who was acting on his behalf. As far as he is aware no one in No 10 either knew about this alleged application or did anything to advance it.”
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Blyth, 67, who said: “I am aware of the statement Boris Johnson is making and can confirm the accuracy of his account.”
Solving a money problem
Johnson’s allies had been looking for a way to solve his financial problems — that satisfied the civil service and parliamentary authorities — since February 2020, when his divorce from his second wife, the barrister Marina Wheeler, was finalised, and his girlfriend, Carrie Symonds, was pregnant with their first child.
The prime minister was now earning significantly less than he had as a newspaper columnist — The Daily Telegraph had paid him £275,000 a year for ten hours a month — author and public speaker.
According to a source, Johnson was on the brink of “going broke” and, according to an insider, there was still a very real fear that he would not be able to pay his own annual tax bill.
Ben Elliot, the Tory party chairman at the time, nephew of the now King and co-founder of Quintessentially, a concierge firm for billionaires, was tasked with helping to find a solution.
He and other trusted lieutenants set about testing ideas, among them that of a Downing Street Trust, a fund to support the refurbishment of the Johnsons’ flat above 11 Downing Street. Privately, Elliot told friends the idea was fraught with difficulty, but he reluctantly persevered.
Any solution would need sign-off from the cabinet secretary and civil service ethics officials. If a donor were to step in, their payments would need to be declared in line with parliamentary rules and the ministerial code. They would also have to be free of any potential or perceived conflict of interest. There was the option of Johnson borrowing against his future income but this was deemed improper.
In October 2020, Lord Brownlow, an insurance tycoon who became a Tory donor under Theresa May, agreed to fund the renovation. However, other expenses mounted and more money was needed. Around November, Sam Blyth entered the picture.
A globe-trotting businessman and climbing enthusiast, Blyth had made his money after investing a few thousand dollars in his twenties in an eponymous travel and trekking company, later valued at $50 million, and subsequently founded Canada’s largest private schools network, which he had recently sold to a larger group.
London had become a regular stopover. From time to time he would see Stanley Johnson, now 82, Boris Johnson’s father — their mothers were cousins. But he was unknown in Britain.
Johnson approached Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, to see if Blyth could act as guarantor for a credit facility.
Case passed it onto the Cabinet Office propriety and ethics team (PET) and relayed their view to Johnson: he could accept financial help from Blyth, but with explicit conditions: that there was no conflict of interest, no risk of a conflict of interest and no risk even of the perception of such a conflict. There was no way Blyth could benefit from Johnson’s role as prime minister or influence his conduct. Under the guide relating to the MPs’ code of conduct, only gifts or benefits that “could not reasonably be thought” to be related to an MP’s parliamentary or political activities may be omitted from the financial register of interests covering all MPs. While this includes “purely personal” gifts from family, the rules state that if there is “any doubt” about a donation, the “benefit” should be registered.
The separate ministerial code states ministers must ensure no conflict of interest between their public duties and their private interests. It states: “It is the personal responsibility of each Minister to decide whether and what action is needed to avoid a conflict or the perception of a conflict.”
Johnson refused to say what steps he took to check with Blyth there was no possible conflict when seeking approval for the guarantorship. His spokesman said: “All Boris Johnson’s financial interests are properly declared.” The money was available from February 2021, helping Johnson finance day-to-day expenses. Sources say the money was not earmarked for a specific project or profession but instead “everything” to do with Johnson’s lifestyle as PM.
The internal register of ministerial interests states the facility was up to £800,000. This information is not publicly available because officials did not deem it to be “relevant” for disclosure.
Johnson would not confirm yesterday how much was drawn down.
Whenever you think you’ve reached the bottom of the barrel with Johnson – *there’s always further for him to fall.*
>Although Johnson’s salary as prime minister — £164,000 — was five times the median UK salary, his lifestyle, including his divorce and childcare payments, meant it was not sufficient.
>
>Senior civil servants had conversations about the prospect of the prime minister being unable to pay his annual tax bill.
Pathetic cum stain.
MPs are, rightly, not trusted by the public. They, rightly, have reputations for being untrustworthy, liars, corrupt, in the employ of their donors rather than the public, and so on.
Thus even the mere *suggestion* of a conflict of interest, as seen here, should be treated as if one existed.
Only by MPs being held to a much higher standard and constantly proving their innocence can public faith in them be restored.