Carrie’s agony
While Boris battles virus in hospital, the mother of his unborn child is a few miles away, still recovering herself – and unable to be by his side
‘Their lives thrown into turmoil’
THe attention of the nation was focused last night on the worsening condition of Boris Johnson.
But there is one person whose agony will be immeasurably greater than any other – his pregnant fiancee Carrie Symonds.
With the birth of her first baby only weeks away, the 32-year-old was already under tremendous strain. even before the PM had to go into self isolation, she had barely seen him.
He had no choice but to put caring for her behind chairing endless Cobra meetings to discuss coronavirus.
To her credit, Miss Symonds – a highly independent woman with a passion for life and a successful professional career – has coped remarkably well.
She has appeared occasionally on social media but put her own welfare to one side to help Boris cope with the massive political pressures he has been under. When he went into self isolation, she quietly left Downing Street, and it is thought she has been staying with her mother.
At the weekend it emerged that Miss Symonds has also experienced symptoms of the virus. Although there is no evidence that it can harm a foetus, no one can be sure. And as any mother will testify, the birth of a first child is one of the most stressful times of their life. If Miss Symonds is at her mother’s home in east Sheen, south west London, she will be several miles from her partner’s hospital ward. But she will be unable to visit him because of their condition. When Mr Johnson and former Tory Party head of press Miss Symonds fell in love, many were sceptical that it could last.
They thought Johnson with his roving eye would soon tire of her. The cynics appeared to have been proved right when they were overheard having a domestic spat in their London house early in their relationship. But they have since proved the doubters wrong. Despite not being married, they negotiated tricky moments like visiting the Queen at Balmoral as an unmarried couple, with great dignity.
Miss Symonds proved a great asset to Mr Johnson, 55, in the election campaign. She curbed her love of the limelight and made sure he was the centre of attention. She was seen with him occasionally, but busied herself campaigning for a number of female Tory friends standing as candidates.
Her friends say that that when she and Mr Johnson became a fixed item, Carrie made it clear that she expected to become a mother. Within weeks of becoming PM she became pregnant.
Mr Johnson was heavily criticised when many parts of Britain were badly flooded and he failed to visit them. At the time he was staying with Miss Symonds at the Foreign Secretary’s official residence, Chevening in Kent, while repairs were being carried out at Chequers. One MP who has known him since before he became an MP said: ‘He was excited at being able to be with Carrie at Chevening officially. It is no secret that they used to go there for trysts before they were officially an item.’
How the intimacy of those blissful weeks at Chevening, when they were alone and in each other’s company must seem like a world away. Little did they know that their lives were about to be thrown into such turmoil.