(Bloomberg) -- U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing renewed questions about his personal life after a businesswoman he had a close friendship with revealed he told her he secretly had a child with a lover while he was married. Johnson has not publicly commented when asked how many children he has.

The Conservative leader is aiming to focus his general election campaign on pro-business policies on Monday but Jennifer Arcuri’s claims risk overshadowing his efforts. She has accused him of treating her like a “one-night stand” and told ITV he hung up the phone recently when she tried to call him. Asked if he was fit to lead the country, she replied: “It depends.”

Must Read: What Scares Business More: Brexit or Corbyn? U.K. Campaign Trail

Key developments:

  • Johnson is expected to speak to the CBI business lobby on Monday
  • Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson will also speak to the CBI conference
  • A Survation poll for Monday’s Good Morning Britain TV show put the Tories on 42%, Labour on 28%, the Liberal Democrats on 13% and the Brexit Party on 5%

Arcuri Had ‘Very Special Relationship’ With Johnson (8 a.m.)

Jennifer Arcuri, the American businesswoman at the center of a controversy over her ties to Boris Johnson, again refused to confirm directly whether she had an affair with the prime minister during his time as London mayor.

“As you can tell there was a very special relationship there,” she said in a live broadcast interview on ITV on Monday. Arcuri insisted she was not a “victim” and had entered her relationship with Johnson willingly, but said she wanted him to call her to acknowledge she’d been made “collateral damage in his quest for greatness.”

In the interview, she described an occasion when she asked Johnson how many children he has. He responded by saying there were four by his second wife, and indicated another child had been born to a former lover. Johnson declined to answer in a recent broadcast interview when he was asked how many children he has.

Controversy surrounding Arcuri has threatened to blight Johnson’s Dec. 12 election campaign. The Independent Office for Police Conduct agency is reviewing whether to open a criminal investigation into Johnson’s links with the U.S. technology entrepreneur during his time as mayor of London. Arcuri has acknowledged that her cyber-security business, Hacker House, benefited from joining a mayoral trade mission to Tel Aviv in November 2015.

Earlier:

Johnson Offers Business an Olive Branch as U.K. Election Revs UpWhat Scares Business More: Brexit or Corbyn? U.K. Campaign TrailWhy U.K. Conservatives Are So Good at Winning: Tim Bale

To contact the reporters on this story: Greg Ritchie in London at gritchie10@bloomberg.net;Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs

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