Jennifer Arcuri has revealed that she has retained diaries that detail her relationship with Boris Johnson, including “verbatim” notes of phone conversations during their alleged affair.
The American businesswoman is at the centre of conflict of interest allegations against the prime minister, who failed to declare their friendship while he was mayor of London.
Arcuri, 34, said she was writing a book about the saga in which she intended to counter what she deemed the media’s narrative that she is a “tart” and a “dangerous woman”.
The prime minister failed to declare their friendship while he was mayor of London.
She told The Sunday Times: “I have about seven years of diary entries, and it’s been fascinating for me to go back and read what I wrote. Because many times he would call me and I would pick up the phone and write down our entire conversation verbatim.
“And let’s be very clear here — I don’t have an ode to Boris Johnson, it’s not like I have a diary about Boris, I have a diary about my life. I have over 50 of them.”
She added: “When this was coming out I went back to that diary to see am I just remembering this wrong? Because it’s been a few years and I’ve had a lot of growing up, etc. But there’s very much a story there.”
Arcuri, a Kentucky-born tech entrepreneur, said she was in talks with several literary agents about the book, but that none had yet agreed to let her “tell the story as I want to tell it”.
“I would pick up the phone and write down our entire conversation verbatim.”
She also said that she had rebuffed one British newspaper that had offered a “blank cheque” to serialise the diaries ahead of the general election.
In a phone interview from California, Arcuri insisted that the potential use of the diaries did not represent a threat.
“I’m debating what kind of story I’m going to tell … It’s not a threat against him. It’s not trying to give the Boris haters a carrot,” she said.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct is still considering whether there is sufficient evidence to mount a criminal investigation against Johnson into alleged misconduct in public office.
Once it has made a decision, the London assembly’s oversight committee will resume its own inquiry into whether Johnson improperly gave Arcuri favours, including access to publicly funded trips and grants.
Arcuri said she loathed being associated with corruption — and repeated her demand that Johnson acknowledge their past friendship.
She declared: “I have been devastated that I’ve been ignored. It would have taken 30 seconds to pick up the phone.
“I have been devastated that I’ve been ignored.”
“Look, I’ve moved on, you’ve moved on, whatever it is, or ‘This is politics, welcome to my world, I’m sorry you got involved. But this is what it is.’ Something to acknowledge.”
The married mother of one added: “This is what makes me crazy. What can I possibly do to make this man acknowledge me?
“Is it exposing intimate details of my diaries, is it showing screenshots of conversations, I mean, what can I possibly do?”
