Marriage and a baby was always non-negotiable for Carrie
Date nights at her mum’s local Italian. Cosy evenings oil-painting together. And, right from the very start of the romance...
IT WAS almost four months ago that Prime Minister Boris Johnson declared that a General Election win for the Tories – and a green light for his Brexit deal – would provoke a baby boom similar to the one seen after the London 2012 Olympics. ‘Cupid’s darts will fly once we get Brexit done,’ he rhapsodised. ‘Romance will bloom across the whole nation.’
And, indeed, it has now come to pass – at least, behind the doors of No10.
The official announcement brings to an end weeks of speculation. Marriage rumours, and the suggestion that Ms Symonds was pregnant, have been an open secret in Westminster circles for the last few months.
It was noticed that Carrie had spent only a short amount of time at the boozy
Brexit celebrations on January 31. Pictures from Election night on December 12 appeared to show her with a bottle of beer – but not drinking from it – and the pair are said to have spent a quiet Christmas Day together with their mothers and their Jack Russell cross, Dilyn, in the Downing Street flat before entertaining friends in the evening.
She had been keeping an increasingly low profile in London and the Prime Minister, too, had notably been spending more time at Chequers and country retreat Chevening. Then, Carrie seemed to disappear completely when she went on an extended business trip to the States, sending the rumour mill into overdrive.
Snatched photographs of Carrie arriving at Downing Street in recent days via a back entrance, with what seemed to be a fuller figure, did nothing to dampen the speculation.
Despite yesterday’s carefully orchestrated announcement, the cat was very nearly let out of the bag by Boris’s father Stanley.
In the March edition of Saga magazine, which is already available, Stanley – the issue’s cover star – told the publication how much he enjoyed his grandchildren and hinted that there may be ‘more on the way’.
Political observers, meanwhile, have been primed for a significant media announcement since Carrie hired a personal spin doctor, Sarah Vaughan-Brown, a close friend of the couple, just a few days ago.
The timing appears to have been deliberately planned to come after Johnson’s divorce from his estranged wife, barrister Marina Wheeler – mother of four of his children – was finalised.
The couple, who were married for 27 years, reached a private agreement ten days ago in a short court hearing. The couple’s assets are thought to include £3.35million in proceeds from the sale of the London townhouse they once shared.
It was considered then that this could pave the way for a potential marriage to Carrie, speculation which Boris has always insisted was ‘a tiny bit premature’. But friends have always claimed that he would propose after his divorce went through.
And, indeed, according to sources close to the couple, marriage and a baby was ‘non-negotiable’ for Carrie. ‘That is what she has always wanted, a condition of their relationship, almost. And he was happy to oblige,’ a source told The Mail on Sunday. Mr Johnson’s romance with
Carrie – who he calls Apples – the bubbly and gregarious former Conservative director of communications, first emerged after they were photographed together at the party’s fundraising Black and White Ball in London in February 2018.
Just a week later, the pair were spotted enjoying an intimate dinner at a corner table of the capital’s oldest restaurant, Rules.
One onlooker described how it seemed ‘hardly anything to do with any great matters of the state’, adding: ‘It seemed quite strange for him to be meeting a young attractive woman for a meal in one of London’s most exclusive restaurants.’
Privately educated Carrie, a high profile figure in Westminster circles for over a decade, is understood to have first met Boris when she was working as an aide to Culture Minister John Whittingdale in 2011.
She is said to have been blown away by his charisma, and they forged a close friendship despite the 24-year age gap and the fact that Boris was then married with four children and had another daughter as a result of an extra-marital affair. But friends insist their relationship did not begin until after he and Ms Wheeler separated.
Blonde, charming and ‘waspishly gossipy’, Ms Symonds had been known as the life and soul of the party who posted glamorous pictures of herself on social media, including one photograph of her striking a pose while standing on the bonnet of a car in the grounds of Parliament.
Her swanky 30th birthday party in March 2018 at a friend’s North
Despite the 24-year age gap, Carrie was blown away by his charisma
She cooks his favourite meal, a curry, on big nights like the Election
London home was attended by a slew of older Cabinet Ministers, including then Environment Secretary Michael Gove and then Home Secretary Sajid Javid, with Boris – who at the time was Foreign Secretary – performing a selection of flamboyant dance moves.
But she ruffled feathers in Government when she took them on over the planned release of taxi driver rapist John Worboys, leading a fundraising effort for his victims to sue the then Justice Secretary.
She testified publicly against Worboys, waiving her anonymity and revealing herself to have been targeted by the serial sex attacker when she was 19. Her testimony had led to his original conviction in 2009 for attacks against 12 women. But he was handed a further two life sentences for attacks on four more women and now may never be released.
Her intervention infuriated some former colleagues but she was praised for her bravery in a handwritten note from then-Prime Minister Theresa May after the row.
She left her Government job in the summer of 2018 amid claims of rows with No 10 over her closeness to Mr Johnson’s camp, and moved to City news firm Bloomberg before taking on a public relations role with the Oceana project, which aims to protect the world’s oceans.
But despite her long career in politics, she has told friends that she ‘struggled’ when Boris first arrived at No10 in July last year, and that ‘it was a tricky wave to ride and took some getting used to’.
But they say Carrie makes Boris blissfully happy and has brought a new sense of calm to his sometimes boisterous and restless nature.
The couple relax by spending their evenings painting together, a passion that Boris’s political hero Winston Churchill also enjoyed, and at the weekends will go on bike rides together in the countryside.
They enjoy good meals out as much as cosy nights on the sofa. Their favourite restaurant is a neighbourhood Italian in East Sheen, eight miles from Westminster,
called Mamma Mia where they often meet Carrie’s mother, media lawyer Josephine Mcaffee.
‘Food is a big part of their relationship,’ said one source. ‘She cooks him his favourite meal, a chicken curry, on big occasions like Election night.’
Carrie likes to surprise Boris with ‘fun little gifts’ – most notably, the £1,000 motorbike she gave him for Christmas. But they are also hugely supportive of each other’s career ambitions.
One source said: ‘He is very, very supportive of her working at Oceana – and is very keen that she keeps the independence of her own career – though she is looking at doing some charity patronages in the future, and that’s something that she and Boris have discussed.
‘While she is a sounding board for him with his politics, she is also fully respectful of the Downing Street/Conservative etiquette and errs on the side of caution.’
With two such fiery characters, it is perhaps no surprise there have been bumps along the way.
Last summer, a neighbour of the couple at their flat in Camberwell, South London, called police after recording a heated row between the couple in which he heard ‘slamming and banging’ and Carrie telling Boris to ‘get out of my flat’.
There is also the continuing mystery of Boris’s existing children – and his numerous extramarital affairs. The Prime Minister has always refused to say how many he has – but it is known he has four children from his marriage to Marina Wheeler, and a daughter born in 2009 from an affair with art advisor Helen Macintyre.
At first, Boris denied even being her father, and was not named on the birth certificate. However, his paternity was revealed after a 2013 court battle in which he sought an injunction to prevent the child’s existence being reported.
This latest announcement is one more dramatic moment in a tumultuous romantic career. Carrie is no doubt banking on a calmer future.