Curtains come down on UK PM Boris Johnson over Downing Street redecoration

There is growing anger in the U.K. over how Boris Johnson paid for a refurbishment of his Downing Street apartment.

LONDON -- President Truman installed the first White House bowling alley. As first lady, Hillary Clinton built a music room. The Obamas introduced a basketball court, later converted by the Trumps into a tennis pavilion. Presidents through the years have put their own extravagant twists on the residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, which is estimated to be worth $424 million by real estate company Zillow. But in the U.K., recent refurbishments at the more modest residence for prime ministers at 10 Downing Street have provoked a political firestorm and it is just the latest in a recent spate of controversies that have piled pressure onto Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The refurbishment controversy has been dominating the headlines in the U.K. and, on Thursday, The Daily Mail -- dubbing the scandal “Wallpapergate” -- carried the headline: “Boris Painted Into A Corner.” Prime ministers are given an annual allowance of up to £30,000 ($41,000) a year to renovate the Downing Street residence. But Johnson has been accused of potentially using Conservative Party funds to top that up and fund a more lavish redecoration in the apartment at 11 Downing Street, where he lives with his fiancée, Carrie Symonds, and their son.