Boris Johnson faces questions over support for exhibition plan backed by donor

Boris Johnson faces fresh questions over his apparent support for a "great exhibition" plan backed by a Tory donor who helped pay for the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat.

Text messages released on Thursday showed the prime minister discussed the proposal with Lord Brownlow - as the PM requested help with funding the revamp.

Labour said Mr Johnson has "serious questions to answer" over the texts.

No 10 said all prime ministers have ideas put to them from time to time.

It comes after Mr Johnson was criticised by his own standards adviser for not disclosing the messages during an official inquiry into the Downing Street flat renovations.

The texts were revealed during a separate investigation by the elections watchdog into the funding of the refurbishment, estimated to have cost £112,000.

In the exchanges from November 2020, Mr Johnson describes part of the flat above 11 Downing Street where he lives with wife Carrie and their children as "still a bit of a tip".

He asks whether interior designer Lulu Lytle can contact Lord Brownlow "for approvals".

The prime minister adds: "Ps am on the great exhibition plan Will revert."

This refers to a proposal for an exposition, inspired by the first Great Exhibition held in London's Hyde Park in 1851, in the UK - a plan backed by Lord Brownlow.

In response, the peer thanks Mr Johnson - and records show that six weeks later he met the then-culture secretary Oliver Dowden to discuss the idea.

Initially, Mr Johnson had asked Lord Brownlow to oversee a charitable trust to fund the work - but that idea was later abandoned and payments ended up being made to suppliers both directly and indirectly by the peer.

The Conservative Party was fined £17,800 last month after the Electoral Commission found it had failed to accurately declare all of Lord Brownlow's donations towards the renovation.

Mr Johnson now says he has covered all the costs out of his own pocket.

Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner said it appeared Lord Brownlow had privileged access to both Mr Johnson and Mr Dowden "because he was paying for his luxury flat renovations".

She added: "If so, that is corruption plain and simple. No-one should be able to buy access or exchange wallpaper for festivals. Boris Johnson has serious questions to answer."

A Downing Street spokesman said: "All prime ministers and ministers have proposals put to them at various points and ministers also meet stakeholders regularly as part of their engagement on an array of issues."

He added: "In line with normal practice, this idea was referred to the relevant department, considered and ultimately not taken forward by the government.

"The government is taking forward Festival UK this year, which was confirmed in 2018, reaffirmed in the 2019 manifesto and is a cultural programme of events, called 'Unboxed', on arts, design and technology which will span the whole of the UK."

These WhatsApp messages have raised new questions about a project being backed by Lord Brownlow.

Boris Johnson says he is "on the great exhibition plan" - a reference to the idea of major exposition in the UK.

Lord Brownlow is a backer and the peer thanks the PM for thinking about it.

But some might question why the prime minister brought up a project backed by Lord Brownlow in a message where he was also asking for more money to be made available from a trust the peer controlled.

In the end, the government did back another idea - Festival UK or Unboxed - a UK-wide "celebration of creativity" due to take place later this year.

There was a commitment in the 2019 Conservative manifesto for a major Festival of Great Britain in Northern Ireland in 2022. Lord Brownlow, it is understood, is not involved.