Jennifer Arcuri dodging the Boris Johnson sex question is a risky move from his pole-dancing pal
SO that’s a yes, then. Correct or not, that was the inevitable conclusion drawn by the majority who watched US businesswoman Jennifer Arcuri refusing to confirm or deny if she slept with Boris Johnson.
Flagged up as “putting the record straight”, her interview posed more questions than answers and, potentially, has put greater pressure on the former London Mayor and our current PM.
For those blissfully unaware, Ms Arcuri is the woman at the centre of Boris Johnson’s latest headache — the ongoing matter of whether the £126,000 of taxpayer funds awarded to her tech companies by the then-Mayor’s office was an undeclared conflict of interest.
Categorically not, she insisted when asked if Boris had shown her any favouritism. And she unequivocally dismissed as “fake news” the reports he’d written her a letter of recommendation for a job she was clearly underqualified for.
But when it came to the nitty gritty of quite how close their “close friendship” was, she suddenly switched her settings to evasive mode.
“Because the Press have made me this objectified ex-model pole dancer, I’m really not going to answer that question,” she fudged. I’m not going to be putting myself in a position for you to weaponise my answer.”
A curious response because if she had simply issued a categoric denial, the only weaponising would have been a hand grenade in to the efforts of Boris’s political opponents, who are throwing everything but the kitchen sink at him in a bid to derail his plans to deliver Brexit.
Instead, they are positively salivating at the prospect that his dealings with Ms Arcuri might be investigated by the police watchdog.
You might say: “So what if he slept with her . . . who cares?”
Indeed, unlike most politicians, Boris has always seemed Teflon-coated when it comes to dodging brickbats over reported marital indiscretions and those who love him do so despite this. They’ve factored it in and he’s still way ahead of Corbyn et al in the polls.
'BORIS BRUISES'
But his usual mantra of “I don’t discuss my private life” won’t be an option if he ends up being officially investigated for an alleged conflict of interest in public office.
According to a former friend of Ms Arcuri at the time, “Jennifer’s name-dropping of the then-Mayor of London could be exhausting,” including the time she allegedly arrived at a dinner and showed the “Boris bruises” between her thighs from “enthusiastic, consensual love-making”.
The friend went on to say he “enjoyed her giggly larger-than-life personality and admired her shameless self-promotion”.
But the burning question is: Given Boris was already in a senior position of political responsibility, what does it say about his judgment to fly so close to someone so obviously high-octane and indiscreet?
Particularly if he then helped her to gain work — an alleged impropriety he wholly denies.
Like his father Stanley, who failed his spy course at the last hurdle after picking up a pretty hitchhiker who turned out to be a “honey trap”, could Boris’s stopovers at her “home office” for “technology advice” (surely to become the updated version of Private Eye’s “Ugandan discussions”) prove his undoing too?
Watch this space.
In the meantime, one suspects the chances of this ill wind blowing over might have been better had the gregarious Ms Arcuri simply remained schtum.
William on to a winner
SHORTLY after Prince Harry told us he’d flown private for the sake of his family, his brother William quietly boarded a commercial flight with his wife, their children and the general public.
Now, shortly after Harry’s Hollywood-esque rant about Press attention, William and Kate quietly took their kids to see Aston Villa play Norwich City and sat in the stands with everyone else, right.
Some long shots were taken of them by the sports photographers present but they didn’t bat an eyelid and asked for no special treatment. Proof, if needed, royals can have normal experiences provided they don’t behave like the “big I am”.
Given royal diaries are planned months in advance, the timing of these starkly contrasting attitudes can only be coincidental. But if there was friction between the houses of Sussex and Cambridge then in the game of one-upmanship, the latter is most definitely winning 2-0.
Swedes get real royals
PRINCE Andrew attended an official event in Perth, Australia, last week and just one fan turned up. Even she admitted the Duke of York’s reputation has been damaged by his friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Meanwhile, the King of Sweden has stripped five of his grandchildren of their royal status following pressure to cut the cost of the monarchy. They will no longer be referred to as His or Her Royal Highness and they won’t have access to taxpayer funds. Listen and learn, Prince Harry. Listen and learn.
After his aforementioned rant and entitled dismissal of an anodyne but “unscheduled” question from Sky reporter Rhiannon Mills during the South Africa tour, he’s in danger of biting the hands that feed whatever public interest there will still be in the Royal Family once the Queen has died.
Without it, the funds will stop and, like his Swedish counterparts, Harry might have to pay his own way.
Admirable Anneka Rices to challenge
OK, so she danced like a Pokemon in the advanced stages of rigor mortis.
But given Strictly’s original remit was along the lines of “plucky amateurs give it their all”, 61-year-old Anneka Rice fitted the (Kill) bill perfectly.
She and rocked that Lycra with a figure women half her age would, er, kill (Bill) for.
For all of the above, she’s top of my leaderboard.
How reassuring
A FREEDOM of Information request has revealed that around 1,300 paedophiles and sex offenders have changed their name in the past three years.
Many of them applied online from jail.
Campaigners are worried it could mean the offenders “disappear” into society but the police say they are informed of the switch and are monitoring them.
The same police forces, I might add, that according to new research, are failing to even record tens of thousands of crimes each year.
How reassuring.
Picture worth a thousand words
THERE are many ways to describe the depth of a parent’s love for their child.
But as the old saying goes, sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.
This is Matt Price, from Norfolk, coming round from the ten-hour operation he had to donate a fifth of his liver to save the life of his baby son Callan.
It says it all.
Powerful message
FORMER footballer Vinnie Jones was known as the hardman of Wimbledon FC.
Seeing him sob uncontrollably as he spoke about the death of his beloved wife Tanya from cancer was uncomfortable viewing but so important in giving other men the powerful message that however tough you think you are, no one is immune from feelings of despair.
And that letting it all out is the first major step towards gradual recovery.
Terrifying stuff
CYBERSCAMMERS have reached a whole new level of deception after using artificial intelligence to mimic voices.
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Believed to be the first case of its kind, criminals convinced a man to transfer £200,000 to a fake bank account by using “deep fake” technology to imitate his boss’s voice.
Terrifying stuff. And the natural conclusion being that perhaps too many High Street branches were closed down prematurely.
Because surely we’ve now reached the point where the only way to know who you are speaking to is if they are behind a counter in a building with the word “bank” on it.
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