Sajid Javid leaps to defend Carrie Johnson and says the PM’s wife ‘should be off limits’
Sajid Javid leaps to defend Carrie Johnson and says the PM’s wife ‘should be off limits’ after she became the focus of Lord Ashcroft’s explosive biography
Lord Ashcroft’s book has prompted fresh claims about Mrs Johnson influenceToday, Mr Javid suggested briefings against her were motivated by ‘sexism’ Mr Javid is known to be a friend of Mrs Johnson and was previously her boss
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Sajid Javid today launched a passionate defence of Carrie Johnson after she became the focus of Lord Ashcroft’s new biography, with the Health Secretary insisting claims she interferes in government business are motivated by ‘sexism’.
The Tory peer’s biography of the mother of two has prompted further allegations that Mrs Johnson wields undue influence at No10.
But Mr Javid rejected this argument, telling Sky News: ‘First of all, the partners of politicians should be off limits. I do think there is sexism involved in this.
‘I really do. I think going after Carrie Johnson is very unfair, it’s undignified and it’s just wrong.’
Mr Javid is a friend of Mrs Johnson, and attended her Abba-themed 30th birthday party. He was also her boss while she worked as an aide at the Department of Communities and Local Government.
Sajid Javid (left) today said Carrie Johnson (right) – as the wife of the Prime Minister – should be ‘off limits’
Lord Ashcroft’s book, First Lady: Intrigue at the Court of Carrie and Boris Johnson , says the Prime Minister enrages advisers by allowing his wife to influence policies and appointments
Lord Ashcroft, whose book is being serialised in the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, said his research had suggested her ‘behaviour is preventing him (Boris Johnson) from leading Britain as effectively as the voters deserve’.
It comes after Mrs Johnson, a mother of two, issued a rare public statement attacking ‘bitter ex-officials’ she has claimed are behind a ‘brutal briefing campaign’ that informed the new biography.
Downing Street insiders quoted in the book have suggested Mrs Johnson wields huge power within Whitehall and have warned that ‘if she doesn’t like you, there can be big consequences’.
The book, First Lady: Intrigue at the Court of Carrie and Boris Johnson, says the Prime Minister enrages advisers by allowing his wife to influence policies and appointments.
However, a spokesperson for Ms Johnson hit out yesterday, saying the ‘cruel’ allegations were ‘just the latest attempt by bitter ex-officials’ to discredit her.
They added: ‘She is a private individual who plays no role in government.’
The Prime Minister is understood to believe that Lord Ashcroft (pictured at Tory Party Conference) has been spun a tissue of lies by disgruntled former No 10 advisers
The Prime Minister, who is said in the book to be ‘completely mesmerised’ by his wife, is understood to also be furious.
Lord Ashcroft’s biography says Mr Johnson cuts a ‘lonely’ figure and is surrounded by Carrie’s close friends, who are now among his most influential aides.
The book advances the theory that faultlines in her relationship with the Prime Minister have had an impact on No 10, with one source describing it as ‘a Greek tragedy’.
It follows allegations over her involvement in ‘Wallpapergate’, the redecoration of their No11 flat, and her role in the evacuation of animals from the Nowzad charity in Afghanistan.
The front cover of Lord Ashcroft’s biography, which is being serialised in The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday
The biography also comes as Mr Johnson fights to stay in No 10 following the resignation of five aides in 24 hours and the growing drumbeat of speculation that he could face a vote of no confidence in his leadership.
The Prime Minister, though, is understood to believe that Lord Ashcroft has been spun a tissue of lies by disgruntled former No 10 advisers.
And in a series of strongly worded rebuttals earlier this week, a spokesperson for Mrs Johnson claimed the book contained ‘vile fabrications’ which were ‘designed to humiliate and discredit Mrs Johnson’, while other stories amounted to ‘baseless tittle tattle’ and ‘offensive nonsense’.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said today that Mrs Johnson was ‘under scrutiny in a way
He told Times Radio: ‘The reportage that somehow she’s got undue influence, I don’t think that’s true.
‘The Prime Minister has been in politics for 25 years and has a pretty strong set of ideas.’
Lord Ashcroft’s book gives a vivid insider story of in-fighting over Mrs Johnson’s influence, and the rows over the appointment of Allegra Stratton to lead No 10 press conferences.
The conflict culminated in the dramatic resignation of chief aide Dominic Cummings in 2020.
According to Lord Ashcroft’s account, the frustrations at Mr Johnson’s then girlfriend’s apparent influence first emerged during his six-week campaign for the Tory leadership in 2019.
It includes claims that Mrs Johnson would use her husband’s mobile phone ‘to try to direct and control events’.
But reacting to the claims in Lord Ashcroft’s book today, friends of Mrs Johnson have described the claims as ‘misogynistic and cruel’, while Mr Johnson is said to be angry at the perceived ‘hit job.’
Despite the allegations, Lord Ashcroft does refer admiringly to Carrie’s ‘courage and determination,’ as evidenced in her instrumental role ensuring sex-offender Warboys stayed behind bars, in speaking openly of her own experience of a 2021 miscarriage and her work for animal protection, saying the complaints against her are about use of power without electoral accountability.
