The FULL Downing Street flat refurbishment REVEALED: A £7,000 rug, a £3,675 drinks trolley and just £4,575 on the wallpaper out of a £200,000 total bill
- Boris Johnson’s Downing Street renovations cost over £200,000, invoice says
- The No11 flat makeover included a £7,000 rug and a £3,675 drinks trolley, it says
- The cheapest item on the bill was a £500 kitchen table cloth, document reveals
Boris Johnson’s Downing Street renovations cost more than £200,000 – including £2,250 worth of ‘gold’ wallpaper which he had complained about his wife buying, documents reveal.
A leaked copy of the invoice for the renovation, seen by the Independent, reveals that the No11 flat makeover included a £7,000 rug, a £3,675 drinks trolley and two sofas which cost more than £15,000 in total.
The cheapest item on the bill from interior designer Lulu Lytle’s company Soane Britain was a £500 kitchen table cloth, while £3,000 had been spent on a ‘paint effect’ for the flat’s hallway and two Aten hurricane lights cost £1,775 each.
The Johnsons also ordered a drawing room lamp for £6,000 along with a £2,500 lampshade, the leaked bill suggests.
And despite the controversy surrounding the renovation becoming known as ‘Wallpapergate’, the most expensive order from the wallpaper bill was £2,250 for 10 rolls of ‘Espalier Square design’ used in the entrance hall.
Wallpaper in the drawing room came to £1,500, while 15 rolls for the kitchen came to £825, meaning £4,575 was spent on wallpaper in total.
Although described as ’emerald and stone linen’ in colour, the ‘Espalier’ wallpaper is believed to have inspired Mr Johnson’s frustrated remark that his wife was ‘spending thousands on gold wallpaper’, reports say.
The Johnsons ordered a drawing room lamp for £6,000 along with a £2,500 lampshade, a leaked bill suggests
Despite the controversy surrounding the renovation becoming known as ‘Wallpapergate’, the most expensive order from the wallpaper bill was £2,250 for 10 rolls of ‘Espalier Square design’ used in the entrance hall
A leaked copy of the invoice for the renovation reveals that the No11 flat makeover included a £3,675 drinks trolley (left) and two Aten hurricane lights (right) costing £1,775 each
The building works estimate, which included painting, having the floorboards sanded, and installing new furnishings and fittings, came to £30,000.
The Cabinet Office leak will revive the long-running controversy over the Johnsons’ refurbishment of their flat above No11.
An estimate of £208,104 was sent to the Cabinet Office – which has an annual budget of £30,000 for renovating the Prime Minister’s residence – at the start of 2020 in the early stages of the project, the Independent reports.
The remainder of the cost had been secretly funded by Lord Brownlow and the Conservative Party until Mr Johnson was told to pay for it himself when the scandal was uncovered.
Pictured: A section of the leaked Soane’s bill, showing what was ordered for the drawing room
Boris Johnson is comforted by his wife Carrie and their children after delivering his statement in Downing Street resigning as the leader of the Conservative Party, July 7
The Johnsons ordered a ‘Nureyev Trolley’ worth £3,675, and said to be ‘inspired by a French 1940s drinks trolley owned by ballet dancer Rudolph Nureyev’, according to the leaked bill.
Eight dining chairs cost £11,280, and the couple spent £7,000 on a rug and £3,800 on an antique mirror for the hall.
After a refurbishment of Johnson’s Downing Street flat – led by a celebrity designer and including gold wallpaper – Britain’s electoral commission fined the Conservatives £17,800 for failing to accurately report a donation to pay for it.
Johnson’s ethics adviser later criticised the prime minister for failing to disclose some messages exchanged with the donor. However, he concluded that Johnson had not intentionally lied about the messages.
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