Here's everything you need to know about Boris Johnson's partner Carrie Symonds, who is set to become the only 'first girlfriend' in British history
31-year-old Carrie Symonds is the girlfriend of Boris Johnson — the most likely contender to become Britain's next prime minister — and a wildly influential figure in the Conservative Party. Here's what we know about her.
Symonds is the daughter of Matthew Symonds, founder of The Independent newspaper, and Josephine Mcaffee, one of the paper's lawyers.
Between 1999 and 2006 Symonds attended Godolphin and Latymer school, a prestigious secondary school in west London.
She went on to read theatre studies and history of art at the University of Warwick, graduating with a first class degree in 2009.
Symonds was thrust into the media spotlight in July 2007 when she almost became a victim of serial black cab rapist John Worboys
Symonds was 19 at the time when Worboys picked her up in his taxi from London's King's Road after she had been clubbing.
In an interview with The Telegraph Symonds told how Worboys convinced her he had won money at the casino gave her champagne.
"I felt indebted to him because he had given me a cheap lift home," she said. "But when I got the glass I secretly poured it on to the floor as I was worried it might be spiked."
Luckily Symonds was able to leave the cab and made it to her front door.
"I played the age card and told him I was very young, only 19, and needed to go home."
In 2009 Worboys was convicted off sexually assaulting 12 women.
Source: The Telegraph, BBC
After several jobs in public affairs, in December 2011 Symonds got a job working on Johnson's successful 2012 London Mayor re-election campaign.
Source: LinkedIn
After that Symonds worked in communications for the Conservative Party, first as head of broadcast and then as a political press advisor.
The job followed roles in the offices of cabinet ministers Sajid Javid and John Whittingdale.
In June 2017, she became the party's director of communications, aged just 29.
In 2018, Symonds was named the 2nd most influential person in UK political communications by PR Week.
Source: PR Week
Symonds left the Conservative Party in 2018 to head-up Bloomberg’s eco-initiative Vibrant Oceans.
Vibrant Oceans partners with coastal communities, nonprofit organizations, local and national governments, policy makers, and academic groups to advance evidence-based conservation practices and implement data-driven fisheries management policies around the world.
Source: Bloomberg
Throughout her time in the Conservative inner circle, Symonds was rumoured to be Johnson's girlfriend, though it was never officially confirmed.
In September 2018, Johnson confirmed he and his wife, Marina, had split "several months ago."
Johnson and Symonds' romance was confirmed on June 20, 2019, when police were called to a quarrel at Symonds' apartment in Camberwell, south London.
When police turned up Johnson was present, and a neighbor told the Guardian they had heard a woman screaming followed by "slamming and banging."
The neighbor said Symonds could be heard telling Johnson to "get off me" and "get out of my flat."
Source: Guardian
Several days after, the couple shared this photo with The Daily Mail. It was widely derided for being staged.
Johnson refused to deny that the photo was staged.
If Johnson is elected prime minister, and the pair wed, it will be the first time a marriage has happened in office for 250 years.
Even if the pair wanted to marry, they cannot do so immediately, as Johnson's divorce with Marina Wheeler is not yet finalized.
Source: The Sun, The Daily Telegraph
Symonds reportedly won't move into Number 10 immediately after Johnson becomes prime minister, and will wait a few days to avoid a media storm.
Source: The Daily Telegraph
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