The designer who refurbished Boris Johnson’s Downing Street flat has spoken out about the “missed opportunity” to promote British craftwork after being caught up in ‘Partygate’ and the scandal around how the work was funded.
Lulu Lytle, founder of design and manufacturing firm Soane Britain, has also said in an interview that the reported £840-per-roll cost of gold leaf wallpaper is not accurate, insisting it was nowhere near that expensive – and nor was it made of gold leaf.
She has said the now infamous wallpaper for the flat above Number 11 Downing Street housing then-prime minister Boris Johnson and his then fiance Carrie Symonds cost £120 per roll – the industry standard – and it was yellow, not gold.
Ms Lytle – who became known as “Carrie’s interior designer” – said she had never met Mr Johnson or his fiance before she received a cold call from Ms Symonds one day asking her to oversee the refurbishment of the Downing Street residence, commissioned in early 2020 and funded by the official grant of £30,000 given to all prime ministers to revamp their living space.
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“Carrie had seen some fabrics of ours that had been commissioned for the state bedrooms at Chequers and liked them very much,” Ms Lytle told the Wall Street Journal of the prime minister’s official country residence in Buckinghamshire.
“She asked me to help with their Downing Street flat, not only because she liked the Soane aesthetic, but because our supply chains are so transparently English.”
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When the bill for the requested work overshot the official grant, Ms Lytle said she was assured a trust would make up the gap, as had been the case for Chequers.
“I was totally reassured it was being set up, but it was taking time,” she said, but a year later it emerged in press reports that not only had the refurbishment cost over six times the official allowance but it had also been funded by Tory party donor Lord David Brownlow.
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The scandal erupted at the same time as it emerged parties had been taking place in Downing Street – and Ms Lytle herself was even investigated for allegedly attending Mr Johnson’s birthday party in Downing Street, for which the ex-PM was later fined.
However, after speaking to investigating officers, she was not fined, having been in Downing Street for work.
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As for Mr Johnson, although he was referred to the Electoral Commission over the saga of the redecoration and the Tory party was fined, his ethics advisor, Lord Christopher Geidt, concluded that he did not break the ministerial code, and he settled the bill for the work privately.
Nonetheless, she recounted the ordeal as having a very difficult impact on herself, her family, and her business.
She says that what upset her the most was the “missed opportunity” to highlight British craftwork.
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“Downing Street could, and in my opinion should, be the most fantastic showcase for British makers – I hoped and believed it would provide a springboard for conversations about UK manufacturing, or honest and transparent supply chains,” she said.
“It was such a missed opportunity,” she added.
Ms Lytle is now launching a flagship outlet on New York’s Upper East Side, expanding properly into the US for the first time.
