Yahoo News Inside Boris Johnson's complicated love life
Despite being the runaway favourite to become Prime Minister, Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign has been dogged with questions about whether his character flaws make him unsuitable for the top job.
His campaign hit a bump in June after it emerged police were called to the flat he shares with girlfriend Carrie Symonds after a neighbour claimed he heard ‘screaming’ and ‘crashing’.
Supporters of Mr Johnson claimed the call was politically motivated as the neighbours also contacted The Guardian about the alleged disturbance, sharing a recording of the incident with the newspaper.
It has since emerged that, should Mr Johnson become PM, Ms Symonds plans to move into Number 10 with her partner, but will do so a few days after he takes office to avoid any controversy.
Mr Johnson has refused to comment on the row and has insisted he plans to keep his private life secret.
Asked during his campaign, he replied: “I took a decision ages ago when I became Mayor of London that I just don’t talk about people I love.
“I’ve had a pretty ruthless rule about not commenting on that side of thing.”
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This is not the first time that Mr Johnson’s personal life has hit the headlines.
He wed his first wife Allegra Mostyn-Owen in 1987 after they met at Oxford University, but the couple split six years later.
Shortly afterwards he married barrister Marina Wheeler, with whom he had been having an affair.
She was already pregnant with their first child Lara Lettice when they wed.
News of Mr Johnson’s four-year affair with Petronella Wyatt, who was a columnist at the Spectator when he was editor, broke in 2004.
He had dismissed the claims but when they were proven, then-Conservative leader Michael Howard asked him to resign and sacked Mr Johnson when he refused.
Boris and Marina Johnson went on to have three more children - Milo Arthur, 24, Cassia Peaches, 22, and Theodore Apollo, 20.
Mr Johnson also fathered a daughter following a fling with Helen Macintyre in 2009.
Details of their affair only emerged in court after Ms Macintyre lost a three-year legal battle to stop the press from naming Mr Johnson as her daughter Stephanie’s father.
Despite weathering the storm of several affairs, Boris’s marriage to Marina Wheeler reportedly broke down when his affair with Ms Symonds emerged.
The couple announced they separated “several months ago” in September 2018, after 25 years of marriage and said they had initiated divorce proceedings.
