Boris Johnson row: top Tory party donor joins calls for
explanation
Taxi tycoon John Griffin voices concerns about morality of
leadership favourite
Rajeev Syal
Mon 24 Jun 2019 12.18 BST First published on Mon 24 Jun 2019
11.06 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/24/top-tory-party-donor-joins-calls-for-boris-johnson-to-explain-row
of the Conservative party’s most generous donors has
joined a growing chorus of demands for Boris Johnson to explain why police were
called to his home after an altercation with his partner.
John Griffin, the taxi tycoon who has given £4m to the
Tories over the last six years, has expressed concerns about the morality of
the favourite to become prime minister and called on him to explain the
circumstances of a furious row with his partner, Carrie Symonds.
His comments follow demands from Johnson’s leadership rival,
Jeremy Hunt, fellow cabinet ministers and Tory backbenchers for the former
London mayor to answer questions about his past behaviour amid growing concerns
about his character.
Asked about Johnson’s responsibilities before the
Conservative party chooses a new leader next month, Griffin, the Tories’ second
biggest donor, told the Guardian he should explain exactly what had happened.
“We deserve an explanation about that row, and he has to
handle it properly. He can’t assume that we are going to support him when he
has not explained every detail,” he said.
“It is likely that he is going to become the PM and most
members want to support him. But if I did anything wrong, I would need to
explain. Because he hasn’t, it is a real worry.”
The story emerged after a neighbour told the Guardian he had
been so concerned by a late-night altercation between Johnson and Symonds that
he had felt obliged to call the police. Other neighbours confirmed the argument
had taken place and said they had been concerned by its intensity.
Griffin, a Brexiter and founder of the cab firm Addison Lee,
expressed concerns about Johnson’s morality and said he should also come clean
about his previous behaviour, including his responsibilities to his children.
Johnson has four children by his former wife, Marina
Wheeler, and a child with a woman with whom he had an affair. However, he has
been dogged by unproven claims that he has at least one more child. Johnson has
refused to comment.
Griffin, who stood down as chairman of Addison Lee in 2014,
said: “Each of his children need his love and attention. But he needs to show
that he has given it to them. He cannot say that it is irrelevant. It is highly
relevant. It is one of the ways you measure a person.
“He may very well be the best father ever, but he needs to
tell us about it. It is a fair question,” he said.
Griffin also called for Johnson to address allegations that
he had had extramarital affairs and had mistreated women in those
relationships.
“We need to know if he can be trusted because he will get
even more attention from women if he becomes PM. I would be concerned if he
went marauding around, taking advantage of women by using his position. It
would not be right at all,” he said.
Griffin is the second major Conservative donor to demand
that Johnson explain what happened on Friday in Camberwell, south London.
Another, who has given the party more than £500,000, told the Guardian the
issue around the row was damaging the party. “We are a laughing stock,” he
said.
Griffin’s intervention comes as the party becomes
increasingly dependent upon major donors.
The former mayor of London, who is widely expected to win
the leadership race, is due to take part in a digital hustings with Tory party
members on Monday.
Earlier on Monday, Hunt sidestepped questions about whether
Johnson was a fit person to be prime minister, but emphasised that the runaway
favourite among the party’s members needed to earn the trust of voters.
“The way to earn that trust with Conservative party members
and with the country is to subject yourself to scrutiny to answer questions
about what you actually want to do,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
He said it was “incredibly disrespectful” of Johnson to
refuse to take part in any head-to-head television debates until after ballot
papers had gone out to party members, and warned that a Johnson-led government
would rapidly collapse.
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