British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is accused of having an affair with an American businesswoman when he was the mayor of London.
Johnson’s alleged relationship with Jennifer Arcuri has been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, a police watchdog, for a possible investigation into whether he helped the tech entrepreneur secure public funds when he was mayor. He served in the role from 2008 until 2016.
Arcuri, a former model, joined the mayor on several of his international trade missions to Tel Aviv, New York, Singapore, and Malaysia and was awarded tens of thousands of pounds in government money, according to the Sunday Times of London. She was allowed to take part in two of the trips despite her companies not qualifying, the Greater London Authority said. She was initially rejected from the third trip but participated after reapplying.
Johnson, 55, often visited Arcuri’s apartment during working hours. Arcuri, now 34, was 27 when she met Johnson in 2012. At the time, he was married to his second wife, Marina Wheeler. The two separated in 2018 and have four children: Lara Lettice Johnson, 26, Milo Arthur Johnson, 24, Cassia Peaches Johnson, 22, and Theodore Apollo Johnson, 20. The prime minister also has a 10-year-old daughter, Stephanie, with Helen Macintyre, an art adviser with whom he had an affair.
Since his separation from Wheeler, Johnson has been dating Carrie Symonds, a 31-year-old senior adviser for the environmental group Oceana.
Johnson refused to answer questions last week about the Sunday Times report, including whether he had a sexual relationship with Arcuri.
Arcuri, who now lives in California, claimed, “Any grants received by my companies and any trade mission I joined were purely in respect of my role as a legitimate businesswoman.” Johnson said that everything was done “entirely in the proper way.”
The Oversight Committee of the Greater London Authority gave Johnson two weeks to provide details of his relationship with Arcuri.
Johnson has long faced allegations of infidelity. The British premier’s four-year affair with journalist Petronalla Wyatt made headlines in 2004.
During court proceedings in 2013, there were claims he had a sixth — and second illegitimate — child.
Wyatt later said that she had had an abortion and suffered a miscarriage. Johnson met his first wife, Allegra Mostyn-Owen, when they were Oxford students in 1987.
He divorced Mostyn-Owen in 1993 after he was said to have had an affair with Wheeler.
