Shelagh Fogarty 1pm - 4pm
Boris Johnson has an 'unsatisfied' county court judgment for debt of £535
12 May 2021, 14:35
Boris Johnson has an outstanding court judgment for a debt of £535, records show.
A search of the county court judgments database shows the "unsatisfied record" registered to the Prime Minister at "10 Downing Street".
The date of the judgment, which was first revealed by the Private Eye magazine, is October 26 last year.
The official court records do not state who the creditor is, nor the nature of the debt.
The judgment was issued less than a fortnight after a Conservative donor told the party he was donating £58,000 to the party in relation to refurbishments at Mr Johnson's Downing Street flat.
The Prime Minister has faced numerous questions about his finances as the Electoral Commission investigates whether any donation was properly declared.
READ MORE: PM signals 'full, proper' public Covid inquiry will take place within a year
Mr Johnson has denied any wrongdoing and insisted he personally paid for the lavish refurbishments, but has declined to say whether he received an initial loan.
Scrutiny intensified when former aide Dominic Cummings accused Mr Johnson of wanting donors to "secretly pay" for the renovations to the apartment in a "possibly illegal" move.
Tory peer Lord Brownlow said in an email leaked to the Daily Mail and dated October 14 that he was making a £58,000 donation to the Conservatives "to cover the payments the party has already made on behalf of the soon-to-be-formed 'Downing Street Trust'".
No 10 did not appear to be aware of the court judgement but officials insisted it has nothing to do with the controversial No 11 refurbishment.
"I have seen that report, we are looking into this issue," the Prime Minister's official spokesman said.
"I can confirm it is nothing to do with the refurbishment of the Downing Street estate, where all such bills have been duly paid either by the Government or the Prime Minister personally."
When asked about the Prime Minister handling the nation's finances with his own reported issues, the spokesman said "our record on the economy is very clear", and insisted there should be no concerns about Mr Johnson's personal finances.