Boris Johnson tries to avoid questions on '£150,000 tree house' in tense interview

Boris Johnson has faced uncomfortable questions on the reports suggesting he planned to build a £150,000 treehouse on the grounds of Chequers.

It comes following speculation that the PM and his wife Carrie wanted to build a structure fit with bulletproof glass for their son Wilf in autumn 2020.

The report first appeared in The Times, and it claimed security staff raised concerns that it could prove to be a security risk as it would have been visible from the road.

The PM was asked about the reports, and while he didn’t deny them, he said he ‘refused to comment on his family life’.

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LBC presenter Nick Ferrari asked Johnson in a tense exchange: “I read that you want a £150,000 tree house for your children - is that digging deep?”

“I’m not going to comment on my children,” Johnson said.

Ferrari replied by saying: “It’s not your children is it? It’s a tree house. Was it true?”

“I’m not going to comment on things in my family life,” Johnson said.

Ferrari pushed: “It’s a tree house, it’s not your family life prime minister.”

Johnson was previously asked about the reports during his trip to Rwanda, where he said: “I’m not going to comment on non-existent objects or non-existent jobs to do with my family.”

A government spokesman added at the time: “We do not comment on private or family matters which do not involve any ministerial declarations or taxpayer funds.”

Meanwhile, it comes after Johnson has failed to deny that he tried to offer his now-wife Carrie Symonds a top government job while foreign secretary.

The prime minister was challenged in the House of Commons over reports that he raised the idea of appointing her to the £100,000-a-year job of chief of staff at the Foreign Office in 2018.

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