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FACTBOX-Under pressure, UK PM Johnson fights leaks against him

Mon, 26th Apr 2021 14:19

LONDON, April 26 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson is
under pressure over a series of accusations about how he
responded to Britain's coronavirus pandemic, the refurbishment
of his flat and an inquiry into who was leaking private
information from his office.

His office at Number 10 Downing Street and ministers in his
cabinet team have denied the accusations, but opposition
lawmakers are hoping to stoke the fire with the Labour Party
making accusations of sleaze.

Following are some of the leaks and the official responses:

DYSON

-- The BBC reported last week that Johnson told businessman
James Dyson he would fix a tax issue for some of Dyson's staff
if they came to Britain to make ventilators at the start of the
pandemic.

The use of text messages rather than more formal means of
communication raised accusations by Labour and other opposition
parties that Johnson's government employed a so-called
"chumocracy", where friends of the prime minister and his
Conservative Party got preferential treatment.

Johnson said on April 21 he would make no apology for giving
the assurances to secure ventilators to "save lives".

The government launched an inquiry into who leaked the text
messages.

-- Last week, three British newspapers quoted unidentified
sources in Johnson's office saying the prime minister's former
senior adviser, Dominic Cummings, had leaked private
conversations, including with Dyson.

In a statement, Cummings said he was not "directly or
indirectly" the source of the leak of details of the
conversation with Dyson to the BBC. "I am also happy to publish
or give to the Cabinet Secretary the PM/Dyson messages that I do
have, which concerned ventilators, bureaucracy and covid policy
- not tax issues," Cummings said.

The Labour Party have called on the government to publish
all communications between ministers and their business contacts
or links who were awarded contracts over the pandemic under
emergency procurement measures put in place in March 2020.

COVID-19 RESPONSE

-- The government was forced to bring forward an
announcement of a second COVID-19 lockdown last year when
details of its plans were published in several British
newspapers.

The government is investigating who was behind this leak,
and on Monday a spokesman for Johnson said it was ongoing.

Three newspapers last week also suggested that Downing
Street was pointing the finger at Cummings.

Cummings, in the same statement, said Britain's top civil
servant, or public official, had told Johnson that Cummings was
not behind the leak. Cummings also said that Johnson suggested
stopping the leak inquiry if it implicated a friend of his
fiancée.

"I told him that this was 'mad' and totally unethical,"
Cummings said, adding that he encouraged the top civil servant
to continue with the leak inquiry.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said on Friday: "The PM has
never interfered in a government leak inquiry."

BODIES

On Monday, Johnson denied a report in the Daily Mail that
Johnson said he would rather bodies piled "high in their
thousands" than order a third social and economic lockdown to
stem coronavirus infections.

Asked if he made the remark, Johnson said: "No, but again, I
think the important thing, I think, that people want us to get
on and do as a government is to make sure that the lockdowns
work, and, and they have."

Labour leader Keir Starmer has called for Johnson to make a
public statement on the report. "I was astonished to see those
words," Starmer said. "It's for the prime minister now to make a
public statement about that. If he did say those things, he's
got to explain it."

THE FLAT

Several newspapers have reported that Johnson sought funds
from donors to the Conservative Party to help renovate his
residence in No. 11 Downing Street.

A government spokeswoman said on Friday: "At all times, the
government and ministers have acted in accordance with the
appropriate codes of conduct and electoral law. Cabinet Office
officials have been engaged and informed throughout and official
advice has been followed.

"All reportable donations are transparently declared and
published – either by the Electoral Commission or the House of
Commons registrar, in line with the requirements set out in
electoral law.

"Gifts and benefits received in a ministerial capacity are,
and will continue to be, declared in transparency returns.”

Separately, defence minister Ben Wallace and trade minister
Liz Truss have both said the prime minister had now paid for the
flat renovations with his own money.

Cummings said his knowledge of the plans for the flat was
limited as Johnson stopped speaking to him about it in 2020, but
he added: "As I told him I thought his plans to have donors
secretly pay for the renovation were unethical, foolish,
possibly illegal and almost certainly broke the rules on proper
disclosure of political donations if conducted in the way he
intended."

Labour has written to Johnson to call for a full
investigation and demanding "he makes it clear who originally
paid for the refurb, why, when and how - as well as asking the
prime minister to come clean about the allegations levelled at
him by his former Chief Adviser Dominic Cummings that Johnson
behaved unethically and possibly illegally in his management of
the Downing Street flat refurb".
(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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