‘Just give an explanation’: Liam Fox tells Boris to come clean over ‘screaming row’ with girlfriend as Hunt allies warn the Tory favourite’s torrid love life makes him a SECURITY RISK
- Boris Johnson has been hot favourite to win the Conservative leadership contest
- Front runner facing storm over blazing row with girlfriend Carrie Symonds, 31
- Allies of Mr Hunt suggested his volatile love life makes him a security risk
Boris Johnson was urged to come clean over the ‘screaming row’ with his girlfriend today – as he faces damaging claims his torrid love life makes him a security risk.
After Mr Johnson bluntly refused to answer questions at Tory hustings, Trade Secretary Liam Fox – a supporter of rival Jeremy Hunt – said it would be ‘easier’ if he spoke frankly on the issue.
Team Hunt also turned the screw on Mr Johnson in the wake of the extraordinary episode at the flat owned by girlfriend Carrie Symonds, 31 – suggesting he could be open to manipulation and even blackmail.
The backlash came as a survey found his standing among Tory activists has taken a serious hit, with four weeks to go until the successor to Theresa May is declared.
Asked about the bust-up today, Dr Fox said the focus should be on policy, but told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show: ‘It’s always easier to just give an explanation.’
Allies of rival Jeremy Hunt turned the screw on Boris Johnson (pictured at hustings in Birmingham yesterday) in the wake of the extraordinary episode by suggesting he could be open to manipulation and even blackmail
Mr Hunt has made no secret that he hopes to make the head-to-head Tory leadership battle against Mr Johnson all about character
The couple were recorded by neighbours having a ‘plate-smashing, screaming row’ at the home in Camberwell.
Miss Symonds, 31, reportedly screamed ‘get off me’ and ‘get out of my flat’ during the bust-up with Mr Johnson. Police were called, but no formal action was taken.
But she was nowhere to be seen at the hustings, despite attending his campaign launch earlier this month.
Sturgeon gloats as poll find PM Boris could fuel Scottish independence
Nicola Sturgeon (pictured) said Boris Johnson would be a ‘disaster’
Nicola Sturgeon gloated that Boris Johnson will be a ‘disaster’ for the Tories today – as a poll found Scots could vote for independence.
The SNP leader delivered a withering assessment of the would-be PM, saying he would ‘damage the UK’s reputation’.
The attack came after a Panelbase poll found Mr Johnson taking charge at Downing Street could put the union at risk.
A narrow majority of 51 per cent would currently vote no to independence, according to the research.
But when people were asked for their intentions if Mr Johnson becomes premier, the proportion against would drop to 47 per cent.
Speaking on Sky News’ Sophy Ridge, Ms Sturgeon said: ‘He will be devastating, disastrous for the Conservatives UK-wide.’
She said: ‘Brexit has damaged the UK’s international reputation but close behind that, Boris Johnson’s tenure has damaged the UK’s reputation…
‘I find it quite hard to get my head around that knowing everything they know about him, they are contemplating putting him in No10.’
Mr Hunt has made no secret that he hopes to make the head-to-head Tory leadership battle against Mr Johnson all about character.
And his supporters went a step further, with a senior cabinet minister describing Mr Johnson as a security risk.
He made the comments in conversation with another cabinet minister, who relayed them to the Sunday Times.
‘There will be things in his private life that we don’t know about,’ the minister is reported as saying.
‘There’s the danger that people leak what they have over him or blackmail him with it.’
Dr Fox denied he was the minister who made the security risk remark, and also said he was not concerned about it.
‘Boris has been the foreign secretary, who is in charge of MI6 as an example,’ he said.
Mr Johnson’s close ally Liz Truss, a Treasury minister, told the BBC Radio 5’s Pienaar’s Politics: ‘There’s no point in asking me, I believe it’s a private matter…
‘People know what he’s like in office and that’s what’s important.’
One Survation poll for the Mail on Sunday was taken before news broke of Friday’s dramatic incident gave Mr Johnson an eight percentage point advantage over Mr Hunt among all voters.
But another survey by the firm yesterday found that had turned into a three point deficit.
Among Tory voters, Mr Johnson’s lead as the man who would make the best Prime Minister more than halved over the period, from a 27-point lead to just 11.
Meanwhile, senior Tories have warned a government led by Mr Johnson could be toppled on his very first day in Downing Street.
If the former London Mayor wins the leadership contest, No10 expects Jeremy Corbyn to call an immediate no-confidence vote in the Commons in an effort to bring down his embryonic administration.
Conservative Party chairman Brandon Lewis and members of the backbench 1922 Committee are understood to have expressed the fear that Mr Johnson would lose the vote, given that the party has a working majority of just four MPs and remains hopelessly split over Brexit.
Asked about the situation today, Liam Fox said the focus should be on policy, but told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show: ‘It’s always easier to just give an explanation.’
Two exclusive surveys by this newspaper – one taken before and the other after news broke of Friday’s dramatic incident – found that Mr Johnson’s lead of eight per cent on Thursday had turned into a three per cent deficit yesterday among all voters
Dr Fox also went on the attack over Mr Johnson’s Brexit plans.
He said the front runner was wrong to claim the UK could waive tariffs on imports from the EU for up to 10 years under World Trade Organisation rules.
The Cabinet minister said: ‘It isn’t true. That’s the problem.
‘Article 24, sub section five it is, allows countries to deviate from what’s called the most-favoured nation principal.
‘And that is we have to treat one and other the same, give the same access to markets.
‘There are two exceptions under that part of the trade law. One says if you are going to be in a customs union. The other says if you have got a free trade agreement
‘But you have to have the agreement to benefit from any temporary relaxation.’
Carrie Symonds is ‘too scared to go home’ – as it’s revealed blazing row was recorded by avowed Remainer and his wife who boasted she ‘gave Boris the finger’
Carrie Symonds is ‘too scared to go home’ after she was recorded in a ‘political stitch-up’ by ‘lefty’ neighbours while she argued with her boyfriend Boris Johnson inside their flat, it was revealed last night.
Her argument with the PM-hopeful, 55, was reported to the police by Remainer couple Tom Penn, 30, and wife Eve Leigh, 34, who live in the flat above and were listening through the walls.
The 31-year-old spin doctor now fears for her safety after it was also disclosed she had been receiving hate mail at her home in Camberwell, south London.
Meanwhile, her street has been plastered with anti-Boris posters and leaflets.
Under fire: Tom Penn and Eve Leigh (both pictured), who live in the same block as Carrie Symonds, said they heard ‘screaming, banging and then silence’ in the early hours of Friday morning, which caused them to call the police
Carrie Symonds (pictured at his leadership launch earlier this month) is struggling after receiving hate mail at her flat in Camberwell, south London
Ms Leigh, who is the daughter of a millionaire, has boasted of how she gave the finger to Mr Johnson in the street and even took to Twitter to say ‘all Tories suck’.
She is a New York-born writer and theatre director who describes herself as a ‘Leftist’.
Ms Leigh was raised in a £15 million New York home and her father was American composer Mitch Leigh who wrote the 1965 Broadway musical Man Of La Mancha, which included the huge hit The Impossible Dream.
Last week wrote on Twitter that Tories were ‘pretending to respect the memories of the Holocaust dead’.
Ms Leigh also had a leading role in a theatre project called Brexit Stage Left – a festival of plays held in January and partly funded from a £1 billion EU cultural project.
The couple, accused of eavesdropping, are both playwrights and claim that their decision to phone police was not political but out of ‘concern for their neighbours’ safety’.
The 31-year-old’s street has also been plastered with anti-Boris posters, with some saying ‘We’d rather endure him as our neighbour’ (pictured)
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