A distant cousin of Boris Johnson acted as a guarantor for a credit facility of up to £800,000 while he was in Downing Street that helped fund his lifestyle.
Johnson benefited from the backing of Sam Blyth, a Canadian millionaire businessman in the education sector, who is a second cousin of the former prime minister’s father, Stanley. He is understood to have had use of the credit facility from February 2021 while in No 10 but did not draw down the full amount.
Johnson and his family are also believed to have stayed in a holiday villa owned by Blyth in the Dominican Republic.
Blyth does not appear to have business interests in the UK but he founded a Canadian chain of private schools known as Blyth Academy. He is an adviser to a Canadian global education company, Apply Board, where the international chair is Johnson’s brother, the former Conservative minister Jo Johnson.
The financial setup was revealed by the Sunday Times, which also reported that Blyth was on a recommendation list from headhunters for a chief executive job at the British Council, a non-departmental public body, at around the same time. His name did not progress.
Asked about the arrangement, Blyth told the Guardian it was “much less” than £800,000 and it was “done on fully commercial terms and fully approved beforehand by the Cabinet Office and ethics”. “Nothing was asked for or given by the PM for this,” he added. “And he knew nothing about the British Council role until I informed him that I had declined to be a candidate.”
A spokesperson for Johnson said: “All Boris Johnson’s financial interests are and were properly declared. Boris Johnson sought advice from the cabinet secretary, the independent adviser on ministerial interests and the propriety and ethics team. He followed their advice in full as the Cabinet Office has confirmed.”
He also stressed that Johnson “did not take a loan from Sam Blyth”.
The spokesperson added: “It is completely untrue that Boris Johnson in any way assisted with, or was even aware of, any application by Sam Blyth – formal or informal – to serve in any position whatever with the British Council, and neither was anybody in No 10 who was acting on his behalf.
“As far as he is aware no one in No 10 either knew about this alleged application or did anything to advance it.”
It comes after persistent questions about how Johnson funded his lifestyle in No 10, after the furore over him using a Tory donor, David Brownlow, initially to pay for the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat.
Johnson was known to be struggling with his £164,000 salary as prime minister, even though he was provided with two homes – the flat and use of the country retreat at Chequers.
Since leaving office he has made more than £1m through speeches, including to insurers and investors in blockchain, the technology behind cryptocurrency. He was also given a £1m donation from a Thailand-based crypto investor, Christopher Harborne, in order to fund his office, fuelling speculation he is planning a political comeback – which his allies deny.
At the same time, his lifestyle continues to be subsidised by a wealthy Tory donor, with Anthony Bamford and his wife giving him use of a £20m London townhouse and a cottage in the Cotswolds. Johnson accepted the gifts despite part-owning three other homes, in Oxfordshire, London and Somerset.
In July, Lord Bamford hosted Boris and Carrie Johnson as they celebrated their wedding, which had taken place during lockdown, in the grounds of his 18th-century mansion, Daylesford House in the Cotswolds.
Johnson had abandoned plans, after his resignation as prime minister, to hold the celebration at the prime minister’s official country residence, Chequers, in Buckinghamshire. The “festival-esque” celebration is said to have included a steel band, rum punch, Abba songs and a conga.
