Boris Johnson has been accused of allowing the Government to treat taxpayers as a “personal cashpoint”.
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner claimed the Prime Minister and other senior ministers acted “like rules are for other people” amid an ongoing row over Tory sleaze.
In a fiery Commons clash, Ms Rayner demanded answers over delays to the publication of the register of minister’s interests and a probe into the funding of Mr Johnson’s Caribbean getaway in 2019.
She said: “The Ministerial Code is clear there must be ‘no misuse of taxpayer money’ nor ‘actual or perceived conflicts of interest’.
“But time and again ministers act like rules are for other people. None more so than the Prime Minister himself.”
But Cabinet Office Minister Penny Mordaunt dismissed her comments, saying: “It is based not in fact, but on speculation, innuendo and smear.”
(Image: PA)
The PM is facing a number of investigations into his conduct, including an Electoral Commission probe into his Downing Street flat revamp and an inquiry by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards into his £15,000 Mustique holiday in 2019.
During an urgent question in the Commons, Ms Rayner raised questions about reports that standards chief Kathryn Stone believed Mr Johnson’s Caribbean trip with his fiancee Carrie Symonds was worth more than double the £15,000 cost he declared last year.
Downing Street has said that the PM declared the luxury trip as a “benefit in kind” from Carphone Warehouse founder David Ross.
Ms Rayner said: “People may ask why this is important. It is important because it goes to the very heart of our democracy.
“Who does our government answer to? The public, or private interests?
She also demanded to know why the list of minister’s interests was “mysteriously delayed”, which would reveal whether Mr Johnson accepted any loans to pay for the refurbishment of his No11 flat.
Mr Johnson insists that he paid the decorating bill himself but he has refused to answer questions on allegations he took an initial loan to meet the costs.
Ms Rayner also tore into the PM’s former top aide Eddie Lister, who apologised at the weekend for approving a £187m loan for a firm he was paid to advise.
She asked: “When will they publish their report on all officials’ second jobs? When ministers and advisers use the public purse as a personal cashpoint, the public has a right to know.”
But Ms Mordaunt said her charge that the Government was “on the take” was implausible.
She told MPs: “I’m afraid this is why the Labour line of attack is not getting traction, well rehearsed though it is.
“It’s not getting traction with the public because it is not plausible. It is based not in fact, but on speculation, innuendo and smear.”
She went on: “The public care about scrutiny, they do. They care about accountability and transparency and standards in public life.
“What they see through though is the performance [Ms Rayner] has given today, which is designed to smear decent colleagues and denigrate British business.”
