Politics

Jennifer Arcuri: Businesswoman facing questions over friendship with Boris Johnson ‘claims she is victim of orchestrated attack’



A US businesswoman facing questions over her friendship with Boris Johnson is reported to have broken her silence to insist she is the victim of an “orchestrated attack”.

Jennifer Arcuri is said to have furiously denied being unfairly awarded taxpayer money by Prime Minister Mr Johnson when he was London mayor.

The tech entrepreneur, who lives in Los Angeles, insisted she was a “legitimate” businesswoman and said that the grants of £126,000 of public money she received for her firm, Innotech, had been awarded appropriately.

Ms Arcuri told the Mail: “This is an orchestrated attack on me, absolutely. Someone has gone to great lengths to put together a massive attack and I stand by the legitimacy of my business. I am in fact a legitimate businesswoman.”

It comes after the Greater London Authority (GLA) said its monitoring officer had recorded a “conduct matter” against Mr Johnson over allegations Ms Arcuri received favourable treatment because of her friendship with him while he was the Mayor of London.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is now considering whether there are grounds to investigate the Prime Minister for the criminal offence of misconduct in public office.

The GLA statement, denounced by Downing Street as a “nakedly political put-up job” on the eve of the Tory Party conference, came after details of Ms Arcuri’s links to Mr Johnson were first highlighted in the Sunday Times last week.

The newspaper reported that Ms Arcuri was given £126,000 in public money and privileged access to three foreign trade missions led by Mr Johnson while he was mayor.

Mr Johnson has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to his links with Ms Arcuri.

The allegations follow a string of well-publicised stories involving Mr Johnson’s private life.

In 2004, Mr Johnson was sacked from the Tory frontbench over a reported affair with journalist and colleague at the Spectator, Petronella Wyatt. He described claims as “an inverted pyramid of piffle”.

The Appeal Court ruled in 2013 that the public had a right to know that he had fathered a daughter with another woman, Helen Macintyre, while mayor of London in 2009.

Mr Johnson and his lawyer wife Marina Wheeler separated and began divorce proceedings in 2018 after 25 years of marriage.

He is now living at Downing Street with former Tory Party worker Carrie Symonds.



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