Boris Johnson’s Mayoral campaign have denied earlier reports that they are paying rent on their County Hall headquarters.
The claim was originally reported in today’s Guardian and repeated elsewhere including by MayorWatch. However a spokesman for Mr Johnson has since said the Guardian’s report “is wrong.”
“We were offered unused space in County Hall from a current tenant in the building, not the owner. We took this offer and have registered it every month with the Electoral Commission as a donation in kind as we are required to do.”
Last month the paper reported that the Conservative candidate had accepted an offer of free office space, a donation the campaign briefed would form part of a £1.25million fundraising drive.
At the time his campaign refused to explain how it planned to spend the target amount which is almost 3 times the legal cap.
The paper also reports that figures provided to the Electoral Commission show total declared donations to Johnson’s campaign have reached £356,000, almost a million lower than their target.