Boris Johnson once offered his lover Carrie Symonds a top job in his office

Boris Johnson’s love affairs and political favours that were deemed unethical made headlines in the national press in the past.

He was recently accused of hypocrisy after splashing out on a £3.8m mansion and sparked controversy after nominating his half-French father for knighthood.

It has also recently emerged that he used his privileged position in the Government to offer his then-lover Carrie Symonds a top job - a move he failed to deny during the PMQs last year.

Insiders believe that Boris Johnson started his affair with Symonds back in 2018 around the time she was promoted to a Press Officer of the Conservative Party.

She moved in with him in his Downing Street residence in 2019. The couple has since married and welcomed two children.

Boris Johnson’s attempt to appoint his love interest to the taxpayer-funded £100,000-a-year job prompted criticism and raised questions over transparency and ethics.

What job did Boris Johnson offer Carrie Symonds?

Last summer then-PM Boris Johnson was challenged in the House of Commons over reports that he raised the idea of appointing lover Carrie Symonds to the tax-payer funded £100,000-a-year top job.

The position the former PM had in mind was the Chief of Staff at the Foreign Office. The incident took place in 2018 when he served as a Foreign Secretary.

There has been no denial from Downing Street that Boris Johnson ‘had to be talked out of the plans’ by aides, with him avoiding answering the question.

Despite growing pressure for an inquiry into the claims back then, there was no one to carry it out after the ethics adviser had quit over breaching the ministerial code.

It has also been alleged and not denied that Boris Johnson suggested his then-wife Symonds for a senior environmental role linked to the COP26 climate change summit or the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Earthshot Prize.

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When did Boris Johnson become romantically involved with Carrie Symonds?

Boris Jonhson could have first met Carrie Symonds in 2009 when she joined Conservative Party as a Press Officer.

While it's unclear when exactly they became close, sources suggest it was in the summer of 2018 - around the time Symonds was promoted to Head of Communications of the Conservative Party. Although her role has come under scrutiny after she allegedly booked taxis for off-duty occasions on expenses, and she ended up quitting.

It was reported later that year that Marina Wheeler, Boris Johnson’s wife and a mother of his four children, ‘kicked him out’ of the marital home following claims he was seeing another woman.

It was Carrie Symonds who stood alongside Boris Johnson and his family after he was elected as the new Conservative leader in 2019, and she moved into Downing Street to live with him that summer.

The couple got engaged in February 2020 and welcomed their first child - a baby boy Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas - in April of that year.

They tied the knot on 30 May, and their second child - a baby girl Romy Iris Charlotte - was born in December 2021.

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Sources used:

- Independent: 'Boris Johnson fails to deny he offered his lover Carrie Symonds a top job'

- Cosmopolitan: 'Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds: a timeline of their relationship'