Numerous leaked files have revealed that Washington Post publisher Will Lewis gave extensive support to Boris Johnson as a secret political adviser during the time that he was prime minister, The Guardian reported on Wednesday.
Lewis, who was vice-chair of the Associated Press news agency at the time, is facing new questions over his independence after it was shown that he worked behind the scenes with Johnson as his premiership suffered through a series of scandals.
Details of the extent of Lewis' backing for Johnson are revealed in official government logs that provide a minute-by-minute record of the prime minister's activities.
Lewis' meetings with Johnson took place over a period of six months in 2022 and were not disclosed in official transparency records, in an apparent breach of government rules, according to The Guardian.
The records are contained in the Boris Files, documents that were obtained by Distributed Denial of Secrets, a U.S. non-profit that archives data leaks, and seen by The Guardian.
According to the files, Lewis spoke or met with the prime minister at least 11 times between February 2022 and July 2022. In total, he appears to have provided Johnson with at least 15 hours of political advice during this period.
Lewis' tenure at the Washington Post has become controversial after allegations recently came out in court proceedings that he was involved in an attempt by UK-based News Group Newspapers (NGN) to "actively frustrate" a police inquiry into phone hacking.
Lewis and NGN have strongly denied the allegations, with a source close to Lewis saying that he "has been transparent about his personal relationship" with Johnson.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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