US tech expert Jennifer Arcuri said on Wednesday that she is seeking support from UK prime minister Boris Johnson to launch a fresh startup in Grimsby.
Her programme, 'Hands-On Hacking' aims to teach corporate teams about "essential hacking techniques" to help students earn cybersecurity jobs.
The announcement was published in an open letter for the Daily Mail, where she wrote to Dominic Cummings, chief special advisor to No 10, stating she was one of the 'super-talented weirdos' applying for the UK Civil Service.
The entrepreneur said that Britain would need to "start doing things differently", adding that the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport had reviewed a £100,000 government grant to her business after claiming it had been awarded due to her "close relationship with Boris".
She added: "At the mention of 'penetration testing' — programmers' jargon for seeking out the weaknesses in digital defences — MPs sniggered like smutty schoolchildren.
Despite this, Ms Arcuri said that the Prime Minister could understand the problems in the digital world as she had "instilled in Boris the importance of never connecting to unsafe" networks.
— J A F F Y (@Jaffy___) January 28, 2020
Speaking on Hands-On Hacking, she said that Britain needed new recruits who had difficulty affording an education or "don't know how to write a CV" to help Britain thrive after Brexit.
She added: "Without them, Britain's critical institutions will be vulnerable to attack. In other words, our greatest threat could, instead, be our greatest asset. The poacher would become the gamekeeper.
— Edward Lucas (@edwardlucas) January 27, 2020
Numerous scandals broke last year of her "very special relationship" with the Mr Johnson during his term as the London Mayor, with Ms Arcuri denying any affair with the newly-appointed Prime Minister on Good Morning Britain. Despite this, the tech guru had received £126,000 in public funds and three trips abroad with the former Mayor between 2008 and 2016, it was revealed. Arcuri, 34, said she had been keeping diaries with notes on phone conversations with Mr Johnson and plans to write a book.
