After ex-lover Arcuri agrees to assist ethics watchdog, UK PM may face criminal inquiry  

After UK PM Boris Johnson’s former lover Jennifer Arcuri dramatically agreed to assist officials, the leader faces possible criminal investigation.

A fresh inquiry has opened into the relationship of the former couple.

The US businesswoman has offered to help the Greater London Authority (GLA) ethics watchdog formally. Arcuri has allowed it to inspect extracts of her diary entries, which describe her affair with Johnson. Not just this, she has also agreed to be questioned for the first time by investigators over the relationship.

Disclosed in the Observer last week by journalist John Ware, the excerpts of the diary reveal how Johnson allegedly overruled the advice of staff to promote the business interests of Arcuri in order to win her affection.

The new development paves the path for Johnson to face an investigation for a potential criminal offence of misconduct in public office.

“I am prepared to show you or your investigators copies of the relevant pages. However, I currently reside in the United States, so it would mean you or they (the IOPC) travelling here for that purpose. In that event, I would also be prepared to be interviewed, if that assists,” Arcuri wrote in an email sent at 7 pm on Friday to GLA’s monitoring officer Emma Strain, head of ethics watchdog.

If it is not possible, Arcuri has also authorised journalist Ware, with whom she had shared her diaries, to show investigators the relevant pages, which give details of her business dealings with the PM.

(With inputs from agencies)