No 10 denies reports PM took weekend break in Italy

LONDON: Downing Street has strongly denied reports in the Italian media that Boris Johnson took a trip to Perugia in mid-September.

A statement from the city’s airport, reported in La Repubblica, said Johnson was in Perugia “over the past few days”, and a source told the newspaper that the Prime Minister “arrived on Friday September 11 at 2pm and left on Monday September 14 at 7.45”.

But Downing Street said the story was “completely untrue” and Johnson had not travelled to Italy “in recent months”. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps claimed the story was “mistaken, as far as I’m aware”. A Number 10 spokesman said: “This story is completely untrue. The Prime Minister has not travelled to Italy in recent months. Anyone who publishes these claims is repeating a falsehood.”