Boris Johnson used a distant millionaire relative to act as a guarantor for an £800,000 credit facility while he was the UK Prime Minister, according to a report, as per pa media.
A spokesman for the former Conservative leader, when asked about the report, said all of Johnson’s finances “are and were properly declared.”
He said advice was sought from UK Government officials, and ethics advisers before any personal arrangements were made.
According to The Sunday Times, Canadian businessman Sam Blyth, reportedly worth $50 million, agreed to act as a guarantor for a credit facility for the-then prime minister.
As per the report, Blyth is a friend of Johnson’s father, Stanley Johnson. Their mothers were said to be cousins.
The credit was said to be available from February 2021 to help with Johnson’s “day-to-day expenses.”
Johnson’s spokesman stressed that he “did not take a loan from Sam Blyth.”
The newspaper said he needed the financial provision despite earning £164,000 as UK prime minister, with an anonymous source cited as saying Johnson was on the verge of “going broke” and there were fears that he “would not be able to pay his own annual tax bill.”
Before entering Downing Street, he was being paid £275,000 a year for writing a weekly column for The Daily Telegraph—money that dried up upon entering No. 10.
Johnson and his wife Carrie are also said to have used a Dominican Republic property owned by Blyth, suggesting it was where he was holidaying when Liz Truss, his successor, was ousted from Downing Street.
The Sunday Times said using Blyth as a guarantor was signed off by the Cabinet Office propriety and ethics team on the condition that there was “no conflict of interest, no risk of a conflict of interest, and no risk even of the perception of such a conflict.”
