SETTING up a trust to fund the upkeep of Downing Street has been looked into – but it would not be able to pay for refurbishments to the Prime Minister’s flat, according to the Cabinet Secretary.

Boris Johnson is under pressure about renovations to his No 11 living quarters after his former aide, Dominic Cummings, claimed the Prime Minister wanted donors to “secretly pay” for the work in a move which would have been “unethical, foolish, possibly illegal”.

Last week, the Daily Mail published details of an email from Tory peer Lord Brownlow in which he said he was making a £58,000 donation to the party “to cover the payments the party has already made on behalf of the soon-to-be-formed ‘Downing Street Trust’”.

To date, no such trust has been formed, but Cabinet Secretary Simon Case told MPs he had been examining such a concept for the historic government buildings.

READ MORE: Boris Johnson to be quizzed by HMRC over Downing Street flat refurbishment

Appearing before the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, the head of the Civil Service said at present there is a budget of up to £30,000 per year for prime ministers to renovate their Downing Street residency, with any costs beyond that met privately by those in office.

He continued: “On the question of a trust, there has been work on this for more than 12 months.

“Chequers and Dorneywood are actually supported by trusts or a charitable trust and equivalent buildings around the world, like the White House I understand, is supported by a trust.

“No Downing Street trust currently exists. Work was begun last spring.

“Lord Brownlow agreed to be chair of a putative trust. There was work done to identify cross-party potential trustees.”

But Case added: “The first thing I would say is that a charitable trust can’t cover private areas of Downing Street, so that’s clear that that can’t be done.”

READ MORE: Scots risk being anaesthetised to sleaze amid endless Tory scandals

The comments come after a senior Government minister insisted Johnson was not “sleazy” as questions continued about how the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat was paid for.

While visiting Wrexham on Monday, Johnson did not deny discussing using donors to fund the work, saying: “If there’s anything to be said about that, any declaration to be made, that will, of course, be made in due course.”

That assertion was backed up by Case, who told MPs on Monday: “All of this will be declared in the proper way.

“The Prime Minister will make relevant declarations.”

The UK’s most senior civil servant, pressed on whether private donations were used to fund the work, said he did “not have all the facts and details at my disposal on this” and said he had been tasked by Mr Johnson to carry out a review.

Earlier today, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace claimed Johnson had paid “out of his own pocket” for the flat upgrades.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Do I think the Prime Minister is sleazy? No, I don’t.

“He paid out of his own money to refurbish the flat. He paid for his flat.”

Labour has called for a full investigation by the Electoral Commission into the situation.

The commission, which first raised the issue with the Conservatives more than a month ago, confirmed at the weekend it was still looking into whether any of the sums relating to the work on the flat should have been declared.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “It’s very important we have answers.”

“It’s all very well the Prime Minister saying, now, ‘well, I paid for it’,” he added.

“The critical question was what was the original arrangement and why is it so complicated?

“If there’s a straightforward answer, then give it.

“If there isn’t, then there are very serious questions to be asked.”

Wallace said the Conservative Party leader had “complied at all stages with the rules”, adding: “We have engaged with the Electoral Commission and we will continue to engage with that.”

SNP MP Alison Thewliss accused the Tory Government of being a "sleekit, grubby cabal" over the issue.

She raised an Urgent Question today in the House of Commons, calling for the UK Government to hold an independent inquiry into claims of cronyism and into the refurbishment of Boris Johnson's home in Downing Street.

READ MORE: SNP MP calls Tory Government 'grubby cabal' over Covid contracts scandal

Addressing Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove today, Thewliss said: "From the contracts to the Health Secretary’s pub landlord to the cosy chumocracy of the Greensill Capital affair to the casual text messages between the Prime Minister and Sir James Dyson promising to fix tax issues apparently in exchange for ventilators we never even got, and now questions over the Prime Minister’s funding for feathering his Downing Street nest.

“I wonder if the minister will agree with me that this is a clear pattern of behaviour and it absolutely stinks. This UK Tory Government is about to prorogue this House to duck further scrutiny.

“In the absence of an independent adviser to investigate ministers, we can no longer trust them to investigate themselves and that much is clear so will the minister for the Cabinet Office instead instruct a full independent public inquiry to get to the bottom of this sleekit, grubby cabal in charge of the UK?"

Gove replied: It is the case that the government, operating at a time when the pandemic was raging, did everything possible and we make no apology for it, to make sure that those at the frontline got the equipment that they deserved.

"The techniques that we used and the processes that we followed not only stand up to scrutiny, they were the same techniques and the same process used by the Welsh Government,  by the Scottish Government, and by the Northern Ireland, executive."

Labour's shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Rachel Reeves, has written to Gove calling on the Government to publish all communications between ministers and business contacts with links to Covid contracts.

Reeves said: “Under the increasing spread of Tory sleaze, knowing how exposed some of our frontline staff were during the height of the pandemic without proper PPE, but also that Tory friends and donors were being awarded £2 billion worth of contracts creates increasingly serious questions for government.

“The government have long rejected Labour’s call for basic transparency by publishing the VIP fast lane, but this cannot go on given new revelations of corruption risk, and of companies without proper certification being allowed to jump the queue.

“As we are still missing an independent advisor on ministerial standards, and a Register of Ministers’ Interests, the Government must require ministers to publish openly and with full transparency, communications between them and those businesses who have won contracts since the pandemic begun and emergency procurement was introduced.

“Otherwise it’s increasingly clear that it is one set of rules for Ministers and their close friends, and another for everyone else.”