LONDON, April 25 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris
Johnson personally covered the cost of refurbishing his Downing
Street flat, a minister said, seeking to quash claims by
Johnson's former top adviser that the prime minister had planned
to get donors to pay for it secretly.
"What I know is the prime minister has personally met the
costs of the flat refurbishment and that is what people in
Britain want to know," Liz Truss, Britain's trade minister, told
BBC television on Sunday.
Dominic Cummings, who was Johnson's key adviser on the
Brexit campaign and helped him to win an election in 2019 before
a bust-up last year, said on Friday that Johnson wanted to
donors to secretly pay for the renovation and he told the prime
minister the plans were "unethical, foolish, possibly illegal".
Johnson's office has said the government had followed the
rules over the refurbishment.
But the opposition Labour Party is calling for an
investigation into how Johnson funded the refurbishment.
It also wants a broader independent commission to look into
ethics and standards in government after a lobbying scandal
involving former leader David Cameron who tried to get ministers
to help the now failed finance firm Greensill Capital.
Truss declined to comment on Sunday when asked whether a
donor initially paid for the refurbishment of the Downing Street
apartment and Johnson then repaid the donor.
"What I agree with is that the prime minister has met the
costs, that everything will be declared in line (with the rules)
including for tax purposes," she said.
British newspapers said on Sunday that Johnson's current
advisers were worried that Cummings would make further damaging
allegations when he speaks to parliament next month about the
government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
(Writing by William Schomberg; editing by David Evans)