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Boris Johnson leads Brexiteer backlash at 'ludicrous' Vote Leave spending claims

John Ashmore

2 min read

Boris Johnson has hit back at "ludicrous" claims that the Vote Leave campaign breached spending rules during the EU referendum.


The Foreign Secretary hit out following allegations from pro-Brexit campaigner Shahmir Sanni that the group "cheated" by funnelling cash to a satellite campaign called BeLeave.

Mr Sanni said former Vote Leave official Stephen Parkinson - who is now Theresa May's political secretary - had directed him to move money from Vote Leave to Be Leave.

"In effect they used BeLeave to over-spend, and not just by a small amount… almost two thirds of a million pounds makes all the difference and it wasn’t legal," he told Channel 4.

But Mr Johnson hit back on Twitter last night, saying the allegations were "utterly ludicrous" and that the Brexiteers had won "fair and square".

Former Number 10 chief of staff Nick Timothy also joined in, tweeting that the Remain campaign had had the advantage of "the entire weight of the Whitehall machine" behind it.