Farmer’s fury as Boris on his land
Farmer’s fury as PM camps in his field... without asking
BORIS Johnson pitched his tent in a farmer’s field without permission during his Scottish holiday, it was claimed last night.
The Prime Minister was also accused of lighting a camp fire on his Highland getaway with fiancee Carrie Symonds, 32, and their four-month-old son, Wilfred. Sheep farmer Kenny Cameron said the couple set up their bell tent on his 20-acre field, believing it was part of their rented coastal cottage, which has views over the islands of Rona and Raasay. He also believed they used chairs from the home to make a makeshift stile to get over a 3ft wire fence.
Mr Cameron said: “Mr Johnson is meant to be leading the country yet he’s not setting a great example.
“Usually if people want to go inside a fenced area they ask for permission first, but I wasn’t asked at all. He could’ve put up his tent in the garden of the cottage and there would’ve been no problem. “He could easily have damaged the fence by climbing over it as a short cut. There’s a gate a little way up and they could have just used that. Having a bonfire is always a risk when you have dry weather. I know we had rain last night but it’s been very dry. “It was the first time I’d seen a tent in the field. I last came up here a few days ago and it wasn’t here then.”
A man said to be part of the PM’s security team was quoted as telling the farmer: “We are going to take the tent down and clear away any rubbish.” It was reported that staff apologised to Mr Cameron, telling him they and the PM had thought the field was part of the cottage grounds.
The farmer said he has rented the field for 20 years as winter pasture for some of his 700-strong flock.
Mr Cameron, who backs Scottish independence, was pleased the PM and his fiancee picked the £1,500-a-week hideaway, known as the Old School House, for their five-day stay. He visited the field yesterday after being tipped off about newspaper pictures of the PM on holiday. He said: “It’s nice the Prime Minister came here with his family. This area is very remote. There’s plenty of peace and quiet. The weather is wonderful at this time of year. Some people bring boats and others go hill walking..”
Mr Johnson, 56, wore a woolly hat and checked shirt as he was snapped 600 miles from Downing Street, where the A-levels grading row rumbled on.
The PM last month urged the public to choose UK breaks this summer, saying: “I think this is a great year for people to have a staycation. This country is uniquely blessed with fantastic places to holiday, whether coastal or otherwise – and I am certainly going to be doing that.
“Obviously, if people feel the need for a foreign holiday, then that’s completely a matter for them, I totally understand it.
“But there are peerless, superlative places, in the UK to go on holiday.”
He is due back at work on Monday. No10 was approached for comment.