Jennifer Arcuri, the US businesswoman at the centre of a storm over her links to Boris Johnson, has refused to say whether they had an affair but insisted on ITV’s Good Morning Britain that he “never ever gave me any favouritism”.
The technology entrepreneur and former model told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that she did not have time for the media attention surrounding Mr Johnson when they met in public.
READ MORE: Jennifer Arcuri: I had ‘every right’ to go on trade missions
She added: “We tried having drinks out in public or having lunch, it just became too much of a mob show, so I said ‘you just have to come to my office’.”
When asked, Ms Arcuri said that her office was in her Shoreditch flat.
Ms Arcuri refused to answer when asked whether she had had a sexual relationship with Mr Johnson.
She said the Prime Minister had been to her Shoreditch office and home “five, ten, a handful of times” and described him as “a really good friend”.
“It’s really not anyone’s business what private life we had.”
Ms Arcuri refused to answer questions on whether she had an “intimate relationship” with Mr Johnson.
She said that Mr Johnson had not had anything to do with her other achievements.
She added: “Because the press has made me this objectified ex-model pole dancer, I am really not going to answer that question.
“I am not going to be putting myself in a position for you to weaponise my answer.
READ MORE: Who is Jennifer Arcuri, the woman at the centre PM cash row?
“Boris had nothing to do with my other achievements.”
Ms Arcuri also said the Prime Minister “asked me to show him a few things” on the pole she had in her London home.
Describing the kit as a “conversation starter,” she said she and Mr Johnson “always had a laugh about it”.
“The pole stood in the living room, yes, he saw the pole.”
When asked directly whether Mr Johnson had ever used the pole, Ms Arcuri said: “I’m never going to tell you that.”
Ms Arcuri said she had never discussed any sponsorship or grants with Mr Johnson.
When asked if she had asked Mr Johnson to help with any “sponsorship money”, she said: “Categorically no.”
Over the weekend, the Sunday Times also reported that Mr Johnson wrote a letter recommending Ms Arcuri for a job as the head of a technology quango when he was in City Hall.
Leaked emails seen by the Sunday Times suggested Mr Johnson was listed as a reference in her application for the role at Tech City.
Ms Arcuri was said to have been a 27-year-old student at the time of applying for the £100,000 a year job.
In recent days, Downing Street has also been forced to deny claims that Mr Johnson squeezed the thigh of a female journalist under the table during a private lunch.
Charlotte Edwardes said the incident took place at the offices of The Spectator in London shortly after Mr Johnson became the magazine’s editor in 1999.
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