Carrie Johnson: puppet master of Downing Street – or
easy target?
This article is more than 3 months old
Some argue Boris Johnson’s wife is pulling the strings
at No 10 but others note that claims contain more than a whiff of sexism
Rowena
Mason and Heather Stewart
Fri 4 Feb
2022 18.01 GMT
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/feb/04/carrie-boris-johnson-pm-wife-downing-street
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Boris
Johnson’s inner circle imploded so spectacularly in recent days that only one
close political confidante from the early days of No 10 remains: his wife,
Carrie Johnson.
The most
powerful prime ministerial spouse in recent memory, the 33-year-old Johnson has
a job of her own for a wildlife charity, but multiple sources from Downing
Street past and present say her influence on the prime minister’s operation is
undeniable.
In the
recent clearout, two of her allies, Henry Newman and Simone Finn, appear – so
far – to have kept their jobs.
And those
who know her say she is determined to keep Johnson in Downing Street, despite
the scandals over No 10 parties – some of which she attended – and the funding
of No 11 flat refurbishment, which was her project with celebrity designer Lulu
Lytle.
The flat
refurb, involving gold wallpaper and a £112,000 price tag, has seen critics
brand her “Carrie Antoinette”, a label she is known to dislike. But one former
Downing Street insider says there was a different nickname for her – Ann
Boleyn.
Her rivals
cast her as the much younger wife trying to have too much political say and
manipulate an egotistical leader.
Former
Downing Street insiders report feeling Carrie could make her husband change his
mind, sometimes overnight, on an issue they thought was already agreed.
The prime
minister would also tell aides that if he didn’t take a particular course of
action, it would anger his wife.
They also
reported Johnson himself receiving scores of messages from her during the
working day - and Carrie Johnson repeatedly calling his staff, insisting the
prime minister be hauled out of meetings to talk to her.
Those
political aides who have crossed her – former strategist Dominic Cummings, and
for a while, election guru Sir Lynton Crosby – have certainly found themselves
cast out, while many on the right side of her have prospered politically,
including friends such as Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary.
But there
is more than a whiff of sexism about such descriptions, according to the female
Tory MPs she has befriended.
It is also
acknowledged even by some of her friends, though, that she has tried to have
her say on policy issues, texting or WhatsApping ministers directly to share
her views. This is mostly about her interest in the environment, which has
given her a bond with the prime minister’s father, Stanley, and the wealthy
Tory peer, Zac Goldsmith.
The most
controversial claim is that she was behind the government’s decision to
repatriate the animals of Pen Farthing from Afghanistan to the UK, which a
Foreign Office email suggests was authorised by the prime minister – something
he rejects. A friend says that she strongly denied having anything to do with
it, telling them that women and children should be the priority and that it was
a complex issue.
One person
who knows Symonds well says she is more interested in cutting plastic waste
than net zero, but that she is “very genuine”.
They claim
her job for the Aspinall Foundation, a conservation charity behind two safari
parks in Kent, is a consuming one, from which she is not taking maternity
leave. Her focus at the moment is on the charity’s campaign to get elephants
repatriated to Africa, and trying strike a deal with Netflix for a documentary
about it.
Friends say
she is “tremendously fun and entertaining”, with definitive views of her own.
They describe her as sending volleys of WhatsApp messages one evening, falling
out the next day and then being back in touch as if nothing had happened after
that. Another person who knows her from Warwick university days as a theatre
and art history student says she has always been the “very definition of
capricious”.
In this
context, the Mirror has described the prime minister’s wife as “addicted to
parties” – with three she reportedly attended during lockdown named in the Sue
Gray report and now under police investigation. These include a Downing Street
garden party on 20 May 2020, a gathering in the Cabinet room for Johnson’s
birthday on 19 June 2020 and a party in the No 11 flat in November 2020. This
was the night of Cummings’s departure from Downing Street with No 10 staff
reportedly hearing music blaring out into the room below, believing it to be a
“victory party”.
She is
known to have a penchant for Abba, with Finn having hosted an Abba-themed 30th
birthday party for her.
This has
led to awkward scenes with the prime minister, with one insider saying he had
been “made to dance like a performing monkey to Abba” with her much younger
friends.
A few
journalists have been known to socialise in the Downing Street flat and at
Chequers, the prime ministerial country retreat in Buckinghamshire. During the
Euros 2020 last year, the Johnsons entertained the Sun editor, Victoria Newton,
and a political journalist there to watch the England v Scotland football game.
No 10 said the rule of six was followed at all times.
Those who
know the Johnsons say they prefer to be at Chequers at weekends and,
occasionally, Carrie stays on after Boris has returned to London.
As well as
having a one-year-old and a newborn, her own job, and a husband who is in
serious trouble, a major part of her life is also Dilyn the dog. She is said to
dote on the Jack Russell cross, despite those who have been around him
describing him as a “handful”, who snaps at ankles and was once blamed for
urinating in an aide’s handbag.
Cummings
and several other sources have spoken of her fury at a media story suggesting
the Johnsons might want to rehome Dilyn, with some in No 10 discussing the
possibility of a complaint to the press regulator.
And as for
her relationship with Johnson , an adviser who worked on the prime minister’s
leadership campaign saw him occasionally frustrated with her, but also at that
time having the appearance of a “devoted puppy” towards her. Certainly, he
backed her over Cummings, when the pair clashed in November 2020, leading to
his departure.
Carrie
Johnson’s spokeswoman said Mrs Johnson had “for some time been the subject of a
targeted briefing campaign to discredit her”. She added that “Carrie had
absolutely no involvement in the Pen Farthing evacuation” and that she did not
discuss it with the campaigners, the prime minister or his aides.
Since his
departure from government, Cummings has been open about trying to remove his
former boss and wife from No 10, describing her as a “wrong un” and someone who
was leading the premiership towards “inevitable disaster”.
More
recently, Cummings has claimed she was initially a strong supporter of him
joining the Downing Street operation as she had a “good sense of PM’s
limitations”. But he added: “ I think she thought once the majority was won,
she should take over as the main influence on him with her people in key roles
below.”
With almost
all the prime minister’s most longstanding aides now gone, Carrie Johnson has
little competition any more.
But with
Johnson’s premiership most likely entering its end phase, how much is that
position of influence worth any more?
Anna
Soubry, a former Tory minister who has worked with Carrie Johnson in the past,
said she thought it was a shame that she would now be forever associated with
Boris Johnson’s likely short-lived premiership.
“I think
she is a remarkably talented, hugely able, lovely person, but she has hitched
her wagon to this disaster of a man. And it actually shows you in a way that
she is honourable, that she has stood by him.”
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