Sir James Dyson has denied text exchanges with Boris Johnson were inappropriate and accused the BBC of a “grotesque mischaracterisation” it has been reported.
The Tories have become embroiled in a row after it emerged Mr Johnson exchanged text messages with billionaire Sir Dyson over the tax status of his employees.
The PM personally promised the entrepreneur he would “fix” the problem after Sir James asked for assurances over tax status for his staff if they came to build ventilators early in the coronavirus crisis.
Speaking after last week’s revelations the British inventor reportedly said it was untrue that he tried to ‘extract favours from the Prime Minister.’
(Image: Getty Images)
In an article for The Daily Telegraph he pushed back on claims of his connections to the Tory Party and to the PM.
He said: “The BBC’s characterisation of me as a prominent Conservative donor, or supporter, leveraging a position of power to extract favours from the Prime Minister, is completely untrue.
“I have met Boris Johnson only three times – always with officials – the last time in 2016. I have not attended any Conservative social events.”
He claimed the way he was presented in the story was a “grotesque mischaracterisation”.
A BBC spokesperson was reported to have said that Sir Dyson informed the organisation that he was not a ‘prominent Conservative supporter’ and they had put that detail on record at his request.
The row first erupted after it was revealed the Singapore-based Dyson’s holding company, Weybourne Limited, wrote to Chancellor Rishi Sunak on March 15 to ensure there would be no change to the tax status of workers who came to the UK for the project.
But days later the vacuum cleaner tycoon then texted Boris Johnson personally to press the issue, according to the BBC.
Shortly afterwards, on April 9, the Chancellor confirmed people’s tax status would not be hit if they came to the UK to work on the ventilator challenge between March 1 and June 1.
The Prime Minister insisted on Friday that there was nothing “sleazy” about their discussions, where he promised to “fix” the tax issue for Dyson staff working on ventilators at the height of the pandemic.
