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a possible ‘intimate relationship’ © Vicki Couchman Share on Twitter (opens new window) Share on Facebook (opens new window) Share on LinkedIn (opens new window) Jim Pickard in London an hour ago Print this page 27 Boris Johnson will not face a criminal investigation into his relationship with an American entrepreneur who received public money while he was mayor of London, it was announced on Thursday.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) concluded it was unnecessary to launch a criminal investigation into Mr Johnson’s friendship with Jennifer Arcuri even though it found evidence of a possible “intimate relationship”.
The watchdog has spent months examining whether the UK prime minister had a case to answer. Its conclusion had originally been expected in December.
The IOPC said its review took longer than expected because of the lack of records, delays in third parties providing information and the fact that some records that would have been helpful “either never existed or have been deleted”.
The prime minister now faces a separate low-level probe by the London Assembly Oversight Committee, which had suspended its own inquiries while awaiting the police watchdog’s decision.
Mr Johnson was referred to the watchdog in September by the Greater London Authority after the Sunday Times revealed that Ms Arcuri, who enjoyed a close friendship with the then mayor, had received public money.
She was given £11,500 by London & Partners, the promotional agency for the mayoralty. Also Mr Johnson’s office intervened to give her a place on trade missions abroad despite her having initially been turned down.
The GLA said she received the right to travel on three trade missions alongside the mayor — to Singapore and Malaysia, New York and Tel Aviv.
In February last year, Hacker House, one of her companies, won a £100,000 contract with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to train businesses in cyber security.
The IOPC report said the GLA code of conduct which applied at the time meant that — even if the relationship was intimate — Mr Johnson had no obligation to include Ms Arcuri’s business concerns in his own register of interests. But it added that under the broader “Nolan Principles of Public Life”, it would have been “wise” for the former mayor to have declared this as a conflict of interest.
“A failure to do so could have constituted a breach of these broader principles contained within the GLA 2012 code of conduct,” it said. “As this does not amount to a potential criminal offence this is now a matter for the GLA to consider.”
The IOPC has a duty to investigate any alleged criminal offence committed by any official in charge of policing.
Mr Johnson has insisted that he had acted with “full propriety” in his dealings with Ms Arcuri. She too has insisted that she received no favours by her friend.
The IOPC said it had found no evidence to indicate that Mr Johnson influenced the payment of any sponsorship moneys to Ms Arcuri or that he influenced or played an active part in securing her participation in trade missions.
But it added : “There was evidence to suggest that those officers making decisions about sponsorship monies and attendance on trade missions thought that there was a close relationship between Mr Johnson and Ms Arcuri, and this influenced their decision-making. ”
A spokesman for the prime minister said he welcomed the fact that the “politically motivated complaint” had been thrown out. “Such vexatious claims of impropriety in office were untrue and unfounded,” he said. “This was not a policing matter and we consider this was a waste of police time.”
Separately, Len Duvall, chair of the oversight committee at the Greater London Authority, has said that it will continue with its own investigation.
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