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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Pippa Crerar

How Boris Johnson benefited from Tory donors - from wedding bash to flat refurbishment

Boris Johnson plans to hold his wedding party at a grand country house in the Cotswolds owned by a billionaire Tory donor, the Mirror can reveal.

The Prime Minister and his wife Carrie are set to host the lavish bash at Daylesford House this weekend for family and friends to mark last year’s marriage.

The Grade 1 listed home belongs to JCB chairman Lord Bamford who has given £14million in cash and gifts to the party since 2001.

Sources suggested the Tory peer, who backed Mr Johnson’s 2019 leadership bid, was covering at least some of the cost of the event.

This is how Boris Johnson has benefited from Tory donors...

Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie (REUTERS)

David Ross

The Johnsons holidayed in a £15,000 luxury villa on the island of Mustique “facilitated” by Tory donor and Carphone Warehouse boss David Ross over New Year 2019/2020.

The island’s management company paid the owners of the villa in which the couple stayed, and Ross subsequently reimbursed them. The PM was criticised over the holiday but he was cleared of breaching the MPs’ code of conduct.

The Bamfords

During the pandemic, the Johnsons dined in style thanks to a £12,500 gourmet food supply from Daylesford organic, which is owned by Lady Bamford of the JCB family. In the run-up to last May’s local elections, the PM used the JCB tycoon’s £47million private jet and helicopter to tour the UK.

Johnson with JCB chairman Lord Bamford (Getty Images)

Lord Brownlow

The PM’s refurb of his official Downing Street flat cost more than £200,000, with £30,000 of it covered by a public grant. Ethics adviser Lord Geidt investigated claims the PM secretly asked Tory donors to foot the bill but cleared him of breaching the ministerial code. When Mr Johnson learned the bill had been settled by the party – including a donation from Lord Brownlow – he reimbursed them from his own pocket.

Lord Goldsmith

The PM and his family received a Spanish holiday last year from the family of Tory peer Zac Goldsmith. Mr Johnson later submitted a declaration stating that his sunshine getaway was “provided free of charge by the Goldsmiths” in an update to the register of minister’s interests.

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