(Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, follow us @Brexit and subscribe to our podcast.U.K. Prime Minister
Boris Johnson is facing renewed questions about his personal life after a businesswoman he had a close friendship with revealed he told her he secretly had a child with a lover while he was married. Johnson has not publicly commented when asked how many children he has.The Conservative leader is aiming to focus his general
election campaign on pro-business policies on Monday but Jennifer Arcuri’s claims risk overshadowing his efforts. She has accused him of treating her like a “one-night stand” and told ITV he hung up the phone recently when she tried to call him. Asked if he was fit to lead the country, she replied: “It depends.”Must Read: What Scares Business More:
Brexit or Corbyn? U.K. Campaign TrailKey Developments:Johnson is expected to speak to the CBI business lobby on MondayLabour leader
Jeremy Corbyn and Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson will also speak to the CBI conferenceA Survation poll for Monday’s Good Morning
Britain TV show put the Tories on 42%,
Labour on 28%, the Liberal
Democrats on 13% and the Brexit Party on 5%CBI’s Allan Criticizes Politicians’ Brexit Failings (10:30 a.m.)John Allan, president of the Confederation of
British Industry, criticized political parties for failing to offer pro-business solutions to the Brexit gridlock at the general election, which he described as “kryptonite” for investment.“It’s not as simple as getting Brexit done, sorting Brexit in 6 months or stopping Brexit,” Allan said at the CBI’s annual conference in London. said, referring to the various parties’ election promises on Brexit. “Whatever happens in this election we’ll be negotiating with the EU for years to come.’’Leaders to Address CBI Business Lobby (10 a.m.)Attendees at Monday’s Confederation of British Industry conference will be faced with very different economic options: A large regulatory border between the U.K. and the
European Union offered by Boris Johnson, who reportedly dismissed the concerns of industry over Brexit with a four-letter epithet, or Jeremy Corbyn’s pledge to nationalize key utilities if he wins power.Johnson will address the conference in
London first, offering an olive branch of tax cuts worth an estimated 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) to make up for the disruption of Brexit. “Let’s not beat around the bush, big business didn’t want Brexit,” Johnson will say, according to speech extracts released in advance. “But what is also clear is that what you want now -- and have wanted for some time -- is certainty.”A very different view will be represented by Corbyn, who speaks after Johnson. Labour has already promised tax rises both for business and for the wealthy. On Friday, the party shocked industry by announcing that if it won the election, it would take the U.K.’s broadband infrastructure into public ownership.Arcuri Had ‘Very Special Relationship’ With Johnson (8 a.m.)Jennifer Arcuri, the
American businesswoman at the center of a controversy over her ties to Boris Johnson, again refused to confirm directly whether she had an affair with the prime minister during his time as London mayor.“As you can tell there was a very special relationship there,” she said in a live broadcast interview on ITV on Monday. Arcuri insisted she was not a “victim” and had entered her relationship with Johnson willingly, but said she wanted him to call her to acknowledge she’d been made “collateral damage in his quest for greatness.”In the interview, she described an occasion when she asked Johnson how many children he has. He responded by saying there were four by his second wife, and indicated another child had been born to a former lover. Johnson declined to answer in a recent broadcast interview when he was asked how many children he has.Controversy surrounding Arcuri has threatened to blight Johnson’s Dec. 12 election campaign. The Independent Office for Police Conduct agency is reviewing whether to open a criminal investigation into Johnson’s links with the U.S. technology entrepreneur during his time as mayor of London. Arcuri has acknowledged that her cyber-security business, Hacker House, benefited from joining a mayoral trade mission to Tel Aviv in November 2015.Earlier:Johnson Offers Business an Olive Branch as U.K. Election Revs UpWhat Scares Business More: Brexit or Corbyn? U.K. Campaign TrailWhy U.K. Conservatives Are So Good at Winning: Tim BaleTo contact the reporters on this story: Greg Ritchie in London at gritchie10@bloomberg.net;Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.net;Joe Mayes in London at jmayes9@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart BiggsFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.