Johnson’s staff knew he had a crush on me, claims Arcuri

The US businesswoman Jennifer Arcuri has claimed that officials in Boris Johnson’s office knew that he had a “crush” on her when he was mayor of London.

Arcuri also claimed Johnson was aware she was going on international trade missions approved by the mayor’s promotional agency, London & Partners (L&P), despite claims from his lawyers that he was not expecting her to attend the trips. Giving evidence to members of the London assembly via videolink, she repeatedly insisted the grants and access to L&P trips she gained between 2013 and 2014 had no connection to her friendship with the mayor.

Johnson made no mention of Arcuri in his declaration of interest as mayor, and when news of their alleged affair broke in 2019, he insisted there was no relationship to declare.

Arcuri’s evidence to the assembly oversight committee suggested the interest should have been declared. Asked if the mayor’s office was aware of this relationship, she said: “People knew that there was an interest of the mayor in me and that he had somewhat of a crush on me when we went to events. Everyone could see the dramatic difference of this man when I entered the room. People kind of assumed what they wanted. But there was never any discussion about any of this.”

When Arcuri was still a MBA student in London, she persuaded Johnson to launch her tech startup Innotech in April 2012 and he went on to speak at three more of the company’s events. She secured £11,500 in sponsorship from L&P for two of these events and a place on L&P trade missions led by Johnson to the Far East, New York and Israel, despite initially being refused places and not meeting the agency’s criteria.

Arcuri told the committee: “My relationship with the mayor or my non relationship had really no bearing

on my complete pursuit of London and my ability to build a business.”

Last year the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) decided against launching a criminal investigation into Johnson’s conduct surrounding Arcuri.

Lawyers for Johnson had told the IOPC that as mayor he was unaware she was due to attend trade missions that he led. “If and when Ms Arcuri did attend any such events, our client was not previously expecting her to attend,” they said in an email.

Arcuri was asked if she told Johnson she was due to attend the trade missions. She said: “Yes. With New York I remember calling him specifically saying, ‘look, you can fake it everywhere else, but they’ll eat you alive in New York. You can’t fake it’.”

“The other discussion was before Tel Aviv where I made sure to give him a mouthful about never connecting to public wifi.”

Arcuri claimed at one stage she was in the offices of L&P every other day.

‘Everyone could see the dramatic difference when I entered the room’

Jennifer Arcuri Tech startup founder

She also said she dealt with senior officials in Johnson’s office including Eddie Lister, then deputy mayor for policing, and the mayor’s head of communications, Will Walden.

She recalled: “Maybe the day before the Malaysia trip, there was some talk of journalists seeding a story at City Hall, where there was going to be some kind of revelation of a relationship.” Later at the high commissioner’s house in Singapore, she said, she asked Walden if the story was going to run. “He said ‘don’t worry about it’,” she said.