Boris Johnson announces £1,800 hospitality at Heathrow amid spat over Spanish holidays | Boris Johnson

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Further details of Boris Johnson’s largely free holiday to southern Spain emerged last month after the prime minister announced £1,800 hospitality from Heathrow Airport.

This statement came in the latest update of the Register of Representatives’ Interests, in which donations or other gifts, along with their value, must be specified. Johnson used the Windsor Suite at Heathrow Terminal 5 on October 7, when he was on his way to Malaga.

The airport described the Windsor Suite as a collection of eight “unique and beautifully decorated” private lounges. Johnson advertised its use for three people, with a total value of £1,800.

While Johnson was previously a staunch opponent of expanding Heathrow to a third runway — he once vowed to stop it lying in front of bulldozers — he chose to travel to Kabul to miss a House of Commons vote that approved the plan in 2018, when he was Foreign Secretary under Theresa May.

Johnson, after being elected to his seat at Uxbridge and South Ruislip, near London’s west airport, told his supporters: “I will lie with you in front of those bulldozers and stop the building, stop the construction of this third runway.”

Downing Street says Johnson, his wife Carrie and their son Wilfred boarded a commercial flight to Spain. Once there, he stayed for free in a luxury villa in Marbella belonging to the Goldsmiths.

While the villa is rented commercially for £25,000 a week, this use of the villa was not registered in the MPs’ Register of Interests, meaning Johnson did not have to officially declare its value.

Downing Street confirmed that the family of Zach Goldsmith, a former Conservative MP who lost his seat in the 2019 election, had been appointed by Johnson as environment minister.

Instead, the prime minister has included the endowment in the ministerial register of interests, which is updated less regularly, and does not mention monetary values. Downing Street said this was the correct way to score the free stay, “given the hospitality of another minister”.

However, there is speculation that Johnson is seeking to set a precedent that the costs and obligations incurred as prime minister fall within the purview of Lord Gedett, the ministerial interests adviser, who has no authority to initiate investigations unilaterally, rather than Catherine Stone. Independent Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

Last week, Downing Street also argued that Stone should not investigate who paid to renovate Johnson’s official apartment, as this was not linked to his role as an MP, leading Labor to warn the prime minister was trying to evade proper scrutiny.

As a minister, Johnson’s opportunity to earn additional income is very limited. When he was a Member of Parliament, he was paid nearly £23,000 a month by the Daily Telegraph to write a column, and he regularly took up lecturing for tens of thousands of pounds.

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