London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Jul 20, 2026

Boris Johnson declares £1,800 Heathrow hospitality amid Spanish holiday row

Boris Johnson declares £1,800 Heathrow hospitality amid Spanish holiday row

Prime minister has not had to formally declare his stay at Zac Goldsmith’s luxury villa in Marbella last month
Another detail of Boris Johnson’s largely-free holiday to southern Spain last month has emerged after the prime minister declared £1,800 of hospitality from Heathrow.

The declaration was made in the latest update to the register of MPs’ interests, where donations or other gifts must be set out, with their value. Johnson used the Windsor suite at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 on 7 October, when he was en route to Málaga.

The Windsor suite is described by the airport as a collection of eight “unique and beautifully decorated private lounges”. Johnson declared its use for three people, with a total value of £1,800.

While Johnson was previously a vehement opponent of Heathrow’s expansion to a third runway – he once pledged to stop it by lying down in front of bulldozers – he opted to travel to Kabul so as to miss a Commons vote that approved the plan in 2018, when he was foreign secretary under Theresa May.

Johnson, after being elected for his Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat, which is close to the west London airport, told supporters: “I will lie down with you in front of those bulldozers and stop the building, stop the construction of that third runway.”

Downing Street say Johnson, his wife, Carrie, and their one-year-old son, Wilfred, took a commercial flight to Spain. Once there, they stayed for free at a luxurious villa in Marbella belonging to the Goldsmith family.

While the villa is rented commercially for about £25,000 a week, this use of the villa was not put in the register of MPs’ interests, meaning Johnson has not had to formally declare its value.

Downing Street has confirmed the holiday was provided free of charge by the family of Zac Goldsmith, the former Conservative MP who, after he lost his seat in the 2019 election, was made a peer and an environment minister by Johnson.

The stay was instead listed by the prime minister in the register of ministerial interests, which is updated less regularly, and does not cite monetary values. Downing Street said this was the correct way to register the free stay, “given the hospitality was provided by another minister”.

However, there is speculation that Johnson is seeking to set a precedent that costs and obligations incurred as prime minister fall under the remit of Lord Geidt, the adviser on ministerial interests, who does not have the power to unilaterally begin investigations, rather than Kathryn Stone, the independent parliamentary commissioner for standards.

Last week, Downing Street also argued that Stone should not investigate who paid for the renovation of Johnson’s official flat, as this was not connected to his role as an MP, prompting Labour to warn the PM was trying to evade proper scrutiny.

As a minister, Johnson’s opportunity to earn extra income is severely limited. When he was a backbench MP, he was paid almost £23,000 a month by the Daily Telegraph to write a column, and regularly took on speaking engagements paying tens of thousands of pounds.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Current AI Seeks to Build an Open Global AI Infrastructure Outside Big Tech Control
Turkey Explores S-400 Transfer to UAE in Bid to Rejoin F-35 Program
Brilliant move: Péter Magyar Moves to Nominate Chess Grandmaster Judit Polgár as Hungary’s President
Spain Defeats Argentina in Extra Time to Win Second World Cup
Germany’s Economic Malaise Reopens the Sunday Shopping Debate
Singapore Considers Lower Taxes for Fund Managers as Hong Kong Intensifies Talent Contest
US Retaliates Against Iran After Two American Troops Killed in Jordan
Bank of Asia BVI Enters Court-Supervised Liquidation After Regulators Find It Insolvent
Proposed U.S.-Saudi Nuclear Pact Could Permit Limited Uranium Enrichment Under International Safeguards
Netherlands Declares Water Shortage Emergency After Drought Pushes Rivers to Historic Lows
Why Kentucky Fried Chicken Became KFC—and Why the False Explanations Persist
Iran Claims It Destroyed Bahrain’s Main Artificial Intelligence Center in Missile and Drone Strike
Ukrainian Drones Strike Wildberries Warehouses Deep Inside Russia
Brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate Who Turned "Toxic Masculinity" Into a Brand Arrested in Miami as Britain Seeks Their Extradition
Reported CIA Mission Helped Clear the UAE’s Path to Advanced US AI Chips
Artificial Intelligence Capital Fuels Markets While Governments and Regulators Face Mounting Strategic Tests
China’s Moonshot’s Kimi K3 Narrows the Gap With Anthropic Through Scale, Openness and Lower Cost
Gold and Cash Seizure Puts Indonesia’s Senior Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Under Investigation
The Ledger Will Not Trust on Faith
Bank of England Warns Climate Shocks Could Trigger Sudden Asset Repricing
UK Treasury Places Microsoft, Google, AWS and Oracle Under New Financial Resilience Rules
Scottish Government Faces Pressure Over Delays in Vulnerable Group Background Checks
Crown Prosecution Service Authorises Additional Charges Against Andrew and Tristan Tate
NHS Approves At-Home Cancer Treatments for Rare Blood Disorders
Bank of England Gains Oversight of Major Cloud Providers Supporting UK Financial System
UK Government Plans Major Overhaul of English Local Councils Through New Unitary Authorities
British Steel Nationalisation Dispute Escalates as Chinese Owner Jingye Seeks Compensation
Bank of England Signals Interest Rates Will Stay High as It Warns of Financial Risks From Climate and AI
Trump Administration Pressures Banks to Restrict Financial Access for Undocumented Immigrants
Passenger Bound for Germany Refused to Sit Beside a Woman on a Plane — Then Slapped a Flight Attendant
Ukraine’s Leadership Rift Spills Into the Streets as Protesters Target Army Chief
Ukrainian Drone Barrage Kills Eight and Strikes Russian Logistics Network
Key Trends to Watch
Financial Conduct Authority Warns Cloud and Digital Risks Are Becoming a Financial Priority
Jeffrey Donaldson Appeals Sexual Abuse Conviction as Democratic Unionist Party Opens Review
Welsh Health Authorities Launch Emergency Meningitis Vaccination Programme for Students
Scottish Business Activity Falls for Third Month as Companies Face Rising Costs
Bank of England Regulators Demand Better Access to Digital Banking Services
United Kingdom Cuts Bilateral Aid to Several African Countries by Up to Ninety Per Cent
United Kingdom Introduces Tougher Deportation Rules After Rochdale Exploitation Scandal
NHS England Launches Wearable Technology Plan to Reduce Sepsis Deaths
Amazon Web Services Billing Error Sends Trillion-Dollar Invoices to British Companies
Bank of England Takes Direct Regulatory Role Over Major Global Cloud Providers
Extreme Summer Heat Drives Record Fire Risk and Rising Deaths Across Britain
United Kingdom Nationalisation of British Steel Sparks Diplomatic Dispute With China
United Kingdom Economy Shows Weak Growth Ahead of Major Autumn Budget
Andy Burnham Set to Become United Kingdom Prime Minister After Labour Leadership Victory
The Ten World Cup Finals That Defined Football History
Smartphones Are Getting More Expensive, Sales Are Collapsing, and Even Apple Admits: "Prices Will Rise"
The Monaco Bombing Has Become a Test of Ukraine’s Intelligence Accountability
×