Boris Johnson's controversial refurbishment of his official Downing Street flat cost £112k, a leaked document suggests.
Items ordered by Boris and Carrie Johnson for their No 11 apartment from interior designer Lulu Lytle's upmarket Soane Britain firm included a £7,000 rug and 10 rolls of wallpaper costing £225 each, the document, obtained by The Independent, indicates.
The bill also listed a £3,675 drinks trolley, two sofas worth more than £15,000, and dining chairs costing £11,200, with the cheapest item - a kitchen table cloth - priced at £500.
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Some £11,000 was billed for dining chairs, and £3,000 for a "paint effect" in the dining room of the flat. In total, the estimate from Soane Britain, comes to more than £200,000.
The eventual cost of the refurb - which Johnson tried to have funded by a donor, before eventually paying for it himself - ran to £112,000.
The reports are likely to reopen controversy surrounding the lavish flat overhaul and how it was funded.
The Cabinet Office, which reportedly leaked a document, refused to comment, as did Soane Britain.
No 10 was contacted for comment.
The flat revamp was one in a series of scandals surrounding Johnson's leadership which ultimately led to his party turning against him and forcing his dramatic resignation on Thursday.
In May 2021, Johnson asked his then-adviser on ministerial interests, Lord Geidt, to investigate claims that he had secretly asked Tory donors to foot the bill for the redecoration, which far exceeded the £30,000 annual public grant afforded to the Prime Minister to spend on his living quarters.
Lord Geidt cleared Johnson of breaching the Ministerial Code, and said that, when Johnson learned the bill had been settled by the Conservative Party - including with a donation from Tory donor Lord Brownlow - he reimbursed them out of his own pocket.
However, a further investigation by the Electoral Commission resulted in the party being fined £17,800 for failing to properly declare a £67,000 donation from a firm controlled by Lord Brownlow.
It also revealed that Johnson had exchanged WhatsApp messages with Lord Brownlow about the revamp in November 2020 which had not been disclosed to Lord Geidt.
This raised questions about what Johnson knew about the source of the donations, and whether Lord Brownlow was able to get access to ministers in return for helping to bankroll the work.
Johnson was at the time reported to have complained that the cost was "totally out of control" and that his then-fiancee Carrie Symonds was "buying gold wallpaper".
Symonds, as she was then, reportedly saw the overhaul as necessary to rid the Prime Minister's residence of the "John Lewis nightmare" left behind by former occupant Theresa May.
How much did everything cost?
Entrance hall:
- Antiqued, bevelled mirror all over the wall - £3,000
- Console table, fixed to the mirror - £3,000
- 10 rolls of Espalier Square wallpaper, £225 per roll - £2,250
- Centre table - £3,000
- Hanging light - £4,465
Drawing Room
- Rug - £7,000
- Wallpaper - £1,500
- Sofas, £7,560 each - £15,120
- 36m of Fabric for sofa, £80 per m - £2,880
- Antique double wingback chair - £4,200
- Antique low ottoman - £1,000
- Nureyev Trolley - £3,675
- Long book table/low bookcase - £3,800
- Leighton - £3,675
- 2 Little side tables, £1,500 each - £3,000
- Card table - £2,000
- 2 Chairs, £1,000 each - £2,000
- Large mirror - £3,000
- Lamps - £6,000
- Shades - £2,500
- 4 curtains, £900 each - £3,600
- 64m window fabric, £100 per m - £6,400
- Fire - £2,000
- Fabrics and upholstery - £5,000
Kitchen
- Dining table - £1,500
- 15 rolls wallpaper, £55 per roll - £825
- Chair - £1,500
- Rug - £2,000
- Loose cover - £2,000
- TV Table - £1,000
- 2 Curtains, £900 each - £1,800
- 32m Fabric, £81,25 per m - £2,600
- Lamp - £2,500
- Gas fire - £2,000
Dining Room
- Rug - £3,000
- Paint effect - £3,100
- 8 upholstered dining chairs, £1,410 each - £11,280
- 20m fabric for dining chairs, £80 per m - £1,200
- Serving table - £2,000
- Table cloth - £500
- 2 pairs of curtains, £900 each - £1,800
- 32m Soralia Red Fern Fabric for curtains, £100 per m - £3,200
- Gas fire - £2,000
- 2 Hurricane Wall lights with candle, £1,775 each - £3,550
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