DM1ST(^8) DAILY MIRROR WEDNESDAY 24.07.
BORIS JOHNSON, PM:
Carrie’ll wait
in the wings
until time is
right to slip
into No10...
BY OLIVER MILNE
Political Reporter
VOICE OF THE
Send in the
Tory clown
BORIS Johnson’s clown act ceased to be
funny years ago – with people laughing at,
not with, the conceited fool.
Now the Tory twister is poised to stumble
into Downing Street by a backdoor the
Conservative Party opened rather than the
front door after a general election.
He is a lying clown. He inhabits a weird,
make-believe fantasy world in which truth is
the enemy, struggling to be honest about
Brexit or any issue requiring sound judgment.
He is an incompetent clown. He was a truly
disastrous Foreign Secretary, offending people
around the world and, with a slapdash false
statement, gifted Iran an excuse to keep
unfairly jailed diplomatic hostage Nazanin
Zaghari-Ratcliffe behind bars.
And he is an idle clown. He is winging it
instead of reading important briefings, mistak-
enly believing his Old Etonian bonhomie is
sufficient. But holders of the highest office
either put in the graft – or they fail.
The clown flopped badly yesterday after the
Tory announcement – a party which in reality
is a small, mainly male, predominantly
southern, financially comfortable and older
sect that is parachuting him into No 10.
The sound of silence was deafening when
Johnson clearly expected cheers for an unin-
spiring speech with a “DUDE” joke that would
shame the worst comedian. Perhaps it did.
Britain deserves both honesty and radical
change, two currencies it will never receive
from a Johnson long past his sell-by date.
We deserve a general election so we, the
people, not the Tory party members, decide
who is ruling Britain.
Bed & flawed
LOVER Carrie Symonds moving into No 10
with Boris Johnson would not be a public
issue unless he tries to charge taxpayers
another fortune for furniture.
We live in a tolerant country and the philan-
dering PM’s latest divorce and apparent rift
with his children are self-inflicted wounds.
But we think Johnson should buy the bed he
will lie in – not least as it will have to be huge
because this Tory will be unable to lie straight
at night, being a stranger to the truth.
Sajid Javid, ex-Culture Secretary
John Whittingdale and former
candidate for Mayor of London Zac
Goldsmith.
But eyebrows began to be raised
about her relationship with Mr
Johnson when the then Foreign
Secretary was seen at her 30th
birthday party in March last year.
According to reports, the pair
had already been seeing one
another for months but kept their
tryst a secret.
Mr Johnson was still with Marina
Wheeler, his wife of 25-years.
After months of secretive meet-
ings, the affair was eventually
exposed in September last year,
just 24 hours after Mr Johnson
announced he was separating from
Independent newspaper’s
co-founder Matthew Symonds and
Josephine Mcaffee, she went to
£20,000-a-year Godolphin and
Latymer School in Hammersmith,
West London, where TV chef
Nigella Lawson and singer Sophie
Ellis-Bextor were pupils.
Carrie was a young graduate
when she first met Mr Johnson.
After shelving dreams of being
an actress, she had began working
for the Tory party and quickly rose
through the ranks.
While working on Johnson’s
campaign to be re-elected London
Mayor in 2012, she developed close
professional relationships with
senior figures in the party.
These included Home Secretary
oceans. But her
effect on Mr
Johnson – already
visible in his
slimmed-down
waistline and
neater haircut –
will be important.
If the pair wed
while he’s in No
he will be the first
Prime Minister to
marry in office for
250 years. What was clear is that
Carrie had become a powerful
operator in the closely-knit world
of Mr Johnson’s advisers, disrupting
a court that has circled the would-
be king since his days in City Hall.
The privileged daughter of The
o e J v s w n w w h P
LOVEY-DOVEY
Pair ‘make up
after flat row’
AT HIS SIDE
Together at
the boat race
WHEN Boris Johnson walks
through the black door of 10
Downing Street today he will
almost certainly do it alone.
His girlfriend Carrie Symonds is
likely to decide to give the historic
moment a miss.
Friends say the 31-year-old
wants to avoid diverting attention
from his first speech as Prime
Minister – as well as the limelight
that has dogged their relationship.
Ms Symonds is thought to be
planning to move into Downing
Street next weekend – once the
initial attention has subsided.
One said: “Symonds does not
want to become a distraction on
the most important day of his life.”
Their apparently volatile
relationship could be an emotional
drain for Mr Johnson as he tries to
negotiate Britain’s exit from the EU
and navigate a divided Parliament.
Some of his top advisers are
understood to be concerned that
Ms Symonds will impose her
political will on him behind the
scenes, sidestepping his political
staff and civil servants.
They have ruled out her taking
an official role but will be unable
to prevent cosy late night chats in
the Downing Street flat.
But this is only half the story of
the domestic challenges the new
PM faces. Mr Johnson’s divorce
from his wife is not yet finalised
and their four children are said to
be refusing to meet their father’s
young lover.
As Mr Johnson steps on to the
world stage, Ms Symonds is
expected to stay in the wings, at
least for now.
While spouses of
other global leaders
attend summits
and events, there
will be no sign of
Carrie Symonds.
Some Tory
insiders even cast
doubt on the long-
term viability of
their relationship.
But friends stress
that when the time
is right Ms
Symonds will come
out of the shadows
and play her role.
Some say the staunch feminist,
does not want to be relegated to
simply being the new “First Lady”.
She is keeping her job as an
adviser at Oceana, a group which
campaigns to protect the world’s
STORM Row hits the headlines
Coooeee!
Aaah, the sun’s out, the kids have broken
up from school, off on our holidays soon...
nothing could ruin this perfect week...
HAPPY DAYS