Johnson ‘knew about Vote Leave’s illegal overspend’, says MP
Boris Johnson knew of Vote Leave’s
overspend during the 2016 EU referendum, but appears to have failed to tell the authorities, according to explosive new claims from a senior MP. The payment was subsequently ruled to be illegal.
Ian Lucas revealed that he has seen correspondence obtained during the
parliamentary inquiry into disinformation and democracy which showed that Johnson’s most senior aide,
Dominic Cummings, told the Electoral Commission that the prime minister, and his cabinet colleague Michael Gove, knew of the overspend by the pro-Brexit organisation.
The Electoral Commission last year
judged that Vote Leave had broken electoral law by
overspending during the EU referendum, after the campaign funnelled
£675,000 through another pro-Brexit group, BeLeave, to avoid spending limits.
The revelation comes as it was confirmed that prosecutors have received a file of evidence from the Metropolitan Police that could lead to criminal charges against the Vote Leave campaign, which was spearheaded by Johnson and Cummings.
Lucas told the
Observer: “Johnson and Gove both knew about the illegal payments to BeLeave. I’ve seen it in writing. We finally forced the Electoral Commission to hand over its correspondence with Dominic Cummings; it’s there in black and white. It’s Cummings himself saying this.”
