Jennifer Arcuri refuses to confirm sexual relationship with Boris Johnson because it would be 'weaponised' against him

• The woman Boris Johnson is accused of giving favours to while Mayor of London speaks out in her first broadcast interview.
• She refuses to confirm or deny to ITV's Good Morning Britain whether she had a sexual relationship with the prime minister.
• She describes Johnson as a "very close friend" who visited her flat around 10 times.
• "It's no one's business what private life we had, or didn't have," she said.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The woman at the cente of a sex scandal which threatens to drag Boris Johnson into a criminal inquiry, has refused to confirm or deny having a sexual relationship with the UK prime minister, as it would be "weaponised" against him.

The tech entrepeneur and former model Jennifer Arcuri told ITV that it was "no-one's business" whether she had an affair with Johnson when he was Mayor of London.

She admitted that Johnson, who she described as "a very close friend" who she "cares about deeply," visited her flat around 10 times, but denied that their close relationship was the reason why Johnson had granted her thousands of pounds of public money as well as access to foreign trade missions.

Asked repeatedly whether she had engaged in a sexual relationship with the prime minister, Arcuri relied that "it's no one's business what private life we had, or didn't have."

She added: "Because the press have made me this objectified, ex-model pole dancer, I really am not going to answer that question.""

"It's no one's business what private life we had, or didn't have," she said.

"Because the press have made me this objectified, ex-model pole dancer, I really am not going to answer that question...

"I'm not going to let you put me in a position where you weaponise my answer."

She denied a report in last week's Sunday Times that Johnson had recommended her for a senior tech job as fake news, adding that "Boris never wrote me a letter. Never."

In a bizarre moment when asked by host Piers Morgan whether Johnson had ever used the pole-dancing pole in her flat, she replied "I'm never going to tell you that."

Pressed again about her relationship with Johnson, she asked Morgan: "has it been ten minutes yet. Are you falling in love with me?"

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