No10 wedding – and a baby too
◆ Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds to marry ◆ Couple expecting child in summer ◆ Bride-to-be says she feels ‘incredibly blessed’
BORIS JOHNSON and his girlfriend Carrie Symonds have announced their engagement and are expecting their first child.
The couple said their baby would be born in the early summer and disclosed they got engaged at the end of last year.
A spokesman made an official announcement yesterday, saying: “The Prime Minister and Ms Symonds are very pleased to announce their engagement and that they are expecting a baby in the early summer.”
Ms Symonds, 31, then posted a message on Instagram admitting she had kept the news of her engagement secret until now, saying: “I wouldn’t normally post this kind of thing on here but I wanted my friends to find out from me.
“Many of you already know, but for my friends that still don’t, we got engaged at the end of last year … and we’ve got a baby hatching early summer. Feel incredibly blessed.”
The couple enjoyed a Caribbean holiday in Mustique at the end of December.
The announcement of their forthcoming wedding means Mr Johnson, 55, will become the first prime minister to marry in office for nearly 200 years.
Mr Johnson and Marina Wheeler, a barrister with whom he has four children, reached a divorce settlement in February after 25 years of marriage. He was previously married to Allegra Mostyn-Owen, an Oxford contemporary.
Ms Symonds became the first unmarried partner of a prime minister to live in Downing Street when she moved into No10 in July last year, on Mr Johnson becoming Conservative Party leader.
She is expected to continue to work on her environmental projects.
It was revealed last week that Ms Symonds had hired Sarah Vaughan-Brown, the former ITN communications chief, as her personal adviser. It is understood that she will be helping Ms Symonds with her charity interests.
Government ministers, MPs and friends congratulated the couple on social media.
Sajid Javid, who previously employed Ms Symonds as a special adviser and quit as chancellor earlier this month, was among MPs to wish the couple well on Twitter. He said: “Congratulations … wonderful news!”
Ruth Davidson, the former Scottish Conservative leader, added her best wishes, and among others congratulating Ms Symonds on Instagram was Alastair Stewart, the former ITN newsreader. Nimko Ali, Ms Symonds’s close friend and female genital mutilation campaigner, said: “Congrats. Love you both and so happy for you.”
James Baker, her close friend and former parliamentary candidate who has accompanied her during many of her big moments, wrote: “Just the very best news and so happy for you all, so excited for the new arrival! Dilyn is going to be an amazing big brother. Love you all so much!”
Siobhan Baillie, her friend and new MP, said “Yippee! Congratulations. Welcome to the magical bump gang.”
The new arrival will be the third baby born to a serving prime minister in recent history. Tony Blair’s wife Cherie gave birth to Leo in May 2000, while David Cameron and his wife Samantha welcomed Florence in 2010.
Charlotte, James and Winston are said to be the bookies’ favourites for potential baby names. The couple already share a dog, Dilyn, which the Prime Minister said helped keep his stress down during last December’s election campaign.
Ms Symonds came to public prominence when it emerged that she was in a relationship with Mr Johnson, who at the time was still married but separated from Ms Wheeler, with whom he has two daughters and two sons.
The couple have chosen to live at the larger four-bedroom flat at No11 Downing Street instead of the smaller twobedroom official residence at No10.
Ms Symonds has maintained a relatively low profile since moving in, although she was photographed among the PM’s staff welcoming him to Downing Street last July – leading to the pink and red floral midi dress she was wearing selling out within hours.
In June last year, police were called in the early hours to the home in Camberwell, south London, which Ms Symonds was at the time sharing with Mr Johnson, after a neighbour heard screaming during an apparent row.
Her association with Mr Johnson dates back to when she worked on his successful re-election bid as London mayor in 2012. She has long been at the heart of the Westminster bubble, having worked as special adviser to Mr Javid during his time as communities secretary, following a similar stint with John Whittingdale when he presided over the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
Ms Symonds joined the Conservatives’ media operation in 2009, first as a press adviser, then head of broadcast at Conservative Campaign Headquarters ahead of the 2015 general election.
Before entering the world of political PR, she had several jobs in commercial communications and marketing.
She grew up in south-west London and attended Godolphin & Latymer girls school in Hammersmith, before graduating from the University of Warwick with a degree in theatre studies and history of art in 2009.
‘We got engaged at the end of last year … and we’ve got a baby hatching early summer’
THE last time she was photographed with Boris Johnson, she was punching the air with delight as the BBC’s exit poll predicted the Prime Minister was on course to a spectacular general election victory.
Little did the world know then that there was double cause for celebration for Carrie Symonds behind Downing Street’s black door. As well as being pregnant with her first child, the 31-year-old “First Girlfriend” was also on the brink of being asked to become Mr Johnson’s third wife.
Revealing on Twitter that the couple had got engaged at the end of last year, the former Tory party director of communications added: “And we’ve got a baby hatching early summer. Feel incredibly blessed.”
Speculation that Ms Symonds might be pregnant reached fever pitch earlier this week when she was conspicuous by her absence at Tuesday night’s black and white ball, the highlight of the Tory social calendar. It was at the same event in 2018 where she was first pictured sharing a joke with Mr Johnson.
The pair originally met in 2012 when Ms Symonds, then a Tory press officer, was seconded to work on his re-election campaign as London mayor.
Outside the National History Museum two years ago, dressed in a long black sparkly dress and black faux fur jacket, the glamourous Tory communications expert appeared at ease in the company of Mr Johnson, who was then foreign secretary. A month later, social media posts revealed that Mr Johnson, and his colleagues Michael Gove and Sajid Javid, had attended her “alcoholfuelled 30th birthday bash”.
But it was not until six months later, in September 2018, that the pair were romantically linked, after it was announced Mr Johnson had separated “some months ago” from Marina Wheeler, his wife of 25 years and mother of four of his children.
It was reported then that the two events were connected, with Ms Wheeler, a barrister who stood by her husband throughout a string of affairs, finally ditched him after discovering text messages from Ms Symonds.
Mr Johnson married Ms Wheeler in 1993, days after his divorce from his first wife of six years, Allegra Mostyn-Owen, was finalised. Soon after, Ms Wheeler gave birth to their first child, Lara, who at 27 is just four years younger than Ms Symonds. The couple reached a financial settlement earlier this month after Ms Wheeler revealed last August she had been diagnosed with cervical cancer and had undergone two operations to be in remission.
Just before New Year’s Eve 2018, Mr Johnson and Ms Symonds were reported to have hosted a champagne and canape party. It was claimed that: “At one point, guests saw Boris drape himself around Ms Symonds before leaning in for a kiss,” and the following month, photographs were published showing Ms Symonds “cheekily tweaking the ex-foreign secretary’s bottom in the street”.
The former Godolphin and Latymer School pupil was credited with smartening up Mr Johnson’s image, encouraging him to diet and drink less alcohol.
But having largely avoided being photographed in public together, the relationship was thrust into the spotlight last July, the day after Mr Johnson topped the final ballot of Conservative MPs in the Tory leadership race, when police were called to the couple’s Camberwell home following an altercation.
Neighbours told The Guardian they had heard screaming, shouting and banging with Ms Symonds reported to have told Mr Johnson: “You just don’t care for anything because you’re spoilt. You have no care for money or anything,” after he spilled red wine on her white sofa.
Days later, they were photographed holding hands and smiling in the countryside as a friend revealed: “The truth is they love each other very much and want to get married as soon as the time is right”.
A month later, Ms Symonds was present to clap Mr Johnson into Downing Street for the first time. In August, the pair attended a reception at Downing Street to honour staff from hospices.
Having left the Conservative Party to work for Oceana conservation project, days later Ms Symonds made her first speech since moving into No10 at a Birdfair event, saying politicians have a “gigantic responsibility” to care for the environment.
She then accompanied Mr Johnson to the Conservative Party conference last October. The pair arrived arm in arm in Manchester and Ms Symonds was later seen kissing the Prime Minister and holding his hand after he delivered his keynote speech.
But she was virtually invisible during the general election campaign, and did not accompany Mr Johnson when he cast his vote in his Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency.
The couple celebrated his 80-seat landslide with a £15,000 holiday on the Caribbean island of Mustique.
The couple’s unusual home address could make childcare arrangements more challenging, yet the couple could still opt for a nanny or the occasional help of a relative such a Ms Symonds’s mother Josephine Mcaffee, a lawyer.
Earlier this week, their pet Jack Russell, Dilyn was spotted being walked in Westminster by Ms Symonds’s new adviser Sarah Vaughan-Brown, ITN’s former director of corporate communications, who was hired earlier this month to assist Ms Symonds’s charitable work and public profile.
The recruitment of such a high calibre public relations expert suggests that we are about to start seeing a lot more of Carrie Symonds as she prepares to become both a mother and the next Mrs Johnson.
‘At one point, guests saw Boris drape himself around Ms Symonds before leaning in for a kiss’