Boris Johnson cleared of breach of conduct

BRITISH Prime Minister Boris Johnson did not breach the parliamentary code of conduct when he was treated to a luxurious vacation in the Caribbean after his electoral victory at the end of 2019s the parliamentary watchdog concluded on Thursday. The statement the Conservative leader submitted to inform the gift is “accurate and complete and we found no violation” of the rules, said the House of Commons commission that oversees compliance with the code of conduct imposed on British politicians.

However, the commission regrets that the “informal” arrangements on financing the trip were not immediately disclosed in detail by either Johnson or the person who entertained him, Conservative Party donor businessman David Ross.

Johnson and his then-fiancée Carrie Symonds, whom he married for a third nuptial in late May, spent New Years Eve 2019, shortly after the Conservatives’ landslide election victory in December, on the private island of Mustique, in the Caribbean Grenadines archipelago

In his declaration of interests to parliament, Johnson reported that the holiday, worth 15,000 pounds ($20,700,) was a gift from Ross, founder of the former mobile phone group Carphone Warehouse. But Ross caused confusion by initially denying that he had advanced that amount, before retracting through his spokesman to say that it was a “benefit in kind.”

Downing Street always ensured that everything had been declared correctly and that the Prime Minister had followed the rules. The opening of an investigation into these holidays was known in May when the Johnson government was embroiled in a series of scandals that exposed its close ties to private interests.