UK not ready to spend a dime on Boris Johnson's girlfriend, Carrie Symonds

Carrie Symonds will be the first female prime ministerial consort since Norma Major not to have her own taxpayer-funded office in Downing Street.



Samantha Cameron, Cherie Blair and Gordon Brown’s wife Sarah all had their own full-time No 10 staff to help organise their diaries, host charity events and handle media and other inquiries.

But Miss Symonds will have no such publicly funded assistance. Nor are there any current plans for her to host charity events at No 10.

Confirming the decision, a Downing Street spokesman said last night: ‘There will be no additional cost to the political purse as a result of Miss Symonds living in No 10.’

The bald statement is the first insight into the delicate Whitehall protocol issues arising from Miss Symonds’ status as the girlfriend of Prime Minister Boris Johnson – who is still married to second wife Marina Wheeler, mother of four of his children.

It is bound to lead some to suggest that she cannot be a fully fledged Downing Street ‘First Lady’ until she marries Mr Johnson.