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7 ways Boris Johnson’s Downing Street refurb may have broken rules

There are at least seven different sets of rules that Boris Johnson, his party and his government may have broken in his £200,000 flat makeover

By Seth Thévoz
7 ways Boris Johnson’s Downing Street refurb may have broken rules
The prime minister faces questions over the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat | PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo
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The makeover of the prime minister’s flat, reported to have cost up to £200,000, has caused nothing but headaches for the government. Ever since the first carefully phrased denials were issued, this story has kept escalating.

As openDemocracy revealed last month, Boris Johnson has been breaking his own government’s transparency rules by failing to publish an up-to-date register of ministers’ interests. The prime minister’s own former senior adviser, Dominic Cummings, said Johnson planned to “have donors secretly pay” for the work.

Here’s what we do know. The civil service refused to pay £58,000 for luxury designer Lulu Lytle’s June 2020 invoice. There were also concerns about the total bill exceeding the £30,000-limit on taxpayer funds for the project.

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0