Another sleaze row over the refurbishment of Boris Johnson’s Downing Street flat is threatening to engulf the government.
Last night, environment secretary George Eustice claimed that parliament’s standards commissioner, Kathryn Stone, would not be permitted to investigate how the refurbishment was financed, saying that it was a “ministerial issue, not a members of parliament issue”.
However, critics said Eustice was incorrect to suggest that the prime minister had “special privileges”.
In the wake of the Owen Paterson scandal last week, some members of the cabinet had called for Stone to be fired.
The prime minister’s approval rating has now fallen to a record low of minus 20, according to Opinium.
The refurbishment of the Number 10 flat, which was eventually paid for by Johnson but initially funded by donors and the Cabinet Office, has been investigated by the independent adviser on ministerial standards, Lord Geidt, who concluded that the PM had acted “unwisely” but not illegally.
The Electorial Commission has submitted its own report to the Conservative Party, but details of its findings have not been made public yet.
