The eye-wateringly expensive ‘gold’ wallpaper used by Boris Johnson in an infamous makeover of his Downing Street flat when he was prime minister is already peeling off, says Jeremy Hunt.
Mr Johnson hit the headlines in April last year when it emerged that he and his wife Carrie spent tens of thousands of pounds on a luxury revamp of the flat above No 11 Downing Street.
It later came to light that the work, inspired by upmarket interior eco designer Lulu Lytle, had been paid in part by Lord Brownlow, a Conservative Party peer, sparking claims that Mr Johnson broke spending rules, although he was eventually cleared by his “independent” adviser.
According to reports, the “handcrafted” wallpaper cost a staggering £840 per roll. But it seems the wallpaper was all style and no substance.
Now, the chancellor has revealed that it had already started to “peel off”. Mr Hunt took up the Treasury brief and residence after Mr Johnson was replaced by Liz Truss, who has herself replaced by Rishi Sunak, the current PM.
“We are moving in, as it happens this weekend,” Mr Hunt recalled in a speech at last night’s The Spectator magazine parliamentary awards.
“I had one or two other things on until then. We did go in though, just to have a look around the flat first and, of course, where did we want to go first? We wanted to go and see the wallpaper”.
He added: “The massive disappointment was to discover that that wallpaper – this may be a world exclusive – had started to peel off of its own accord and had actually been painted over by Liz Truss. So I will be saying to my children: scratch over there, there’s gold in them walls.’”
Mr Hunt became the UK’s fourth chancellor this year when he placed Nadhim Zahawi, who served the shortest stint ever in No 11 when appointed by Mr Johnson as his government collapsed.
After becoming prime minister Mr Truss appointed Kwasi Kwarteng as her chancellor but sacked him just a few weeks later following the fallout from September’s disastrous mini-Budget.
Ms Truss appointed Mr Hunt in his place in the dying days of her premiership as she unsuccessfully attempted to cling to power.
Mr Hunt kept his job when Mr Sunak replaced Ms Truss - landing him the ‘Survivor of the Year Award’ at The Spectator’s annual parliamentary awards on Wednesday night.
After losing his party’s summer leadership contest, Mr Sunak won ‘Comeback of the Year’ and Labour’s Rachel Reeves won the ‘Chancellor of the Year’ gong.
