Why Boris Johnson was sacked from the shadow cabinet

Tory leadership contender faced scrutiny
over his private life long before recent furore over row with
girlfriend

In Depth

The Tory leadership front-runner has refused to answer any
questions about the incident, during which neighbours dialled 999
to report overhearing a loud argument between him and Carrie
Symonds. 

His reputation has taken a further hit
after The Observer obtained unused footage from
a documentary by US filmmaker Alison Klayman that
suggests he received guidance from Donald Trump’s
controversial former campaign manager Steve Bannon last July, in
the same week that Johnson resigned from Theresa May’s government.
The MP has previously dismissed reports of links with Bannon
as a “lefty delusion”.

As Johnson now faces new questions about his
character and judgement, the focus is back on his past behaviour,
says the Financial Times – including
the scandal that bought his shadow cabinet career to an end in
2004.

So what happened?

Johnson married his first wife, Allegra Mostyn-Owen, in 1987
after they met at Oxford, but split after allegedly having an
affair with author and lawyer Marina Wheeler, whom he married in
1993.

Johnson then met fellow journalist Petronella Wyatt when he was
the editor of The Spectator and she was one of his columnists. The
two began an affair shortly before he was elected Conservative MP
for Henley in 2001.

As The Sun reports, news of their relationship hit
the British press in 2004, along with claims that Wyatt had fallen
pregnant and had an abortion. 

Rumours of the affair had dogged Johnson prior to the
revelation, and only one week earlier he had dismissed the
allegations as an “inverted pyramid of piffle”, according to
The Guardian.

He also scored an own goal by repeating that claim to Michael
Howard, then Tory party leader. Howard subsequently asked Johnson
to resign, and when he refused, sacked him from his
roles as the party’s arts spokesperson and vice
chair.

How didJohnson respond?

At the time, Johnson said it was a “wretched and lamentable day
when people’s private lives can become used in political
machinations”. He added that Howard should not have made the
decision to sack him “in response to tabloid stories about my
private life” .

An unnamed friend told The Daily Telegraph that Johnson felt that “the
whole thing has been handled pathetically badly” and that he “feels
it is private life and nobody else’s business”.

When challenged over the incident by BBC journalist Eddie Mair during an
interview in 2013, Johnson refused to comment – a strategy he is
sticking with over the latest furore, too.

At a Conservative Party event in Birmingham last week, Johnson
was relentlessly grilled over his row with Symonds, with
interviewer Iain Dale repeatedly asking him to clarify what
happened.

The Tory leadership hopeful responded: “I don’t think people
want to hear about that kind of thing. What they want to hear is
what my plans are for this country.”

The Sun reports that some party supporters
“jeered” Dale and cheered Johnson’s response. Yet Dale continued to
press him, insiting that “if the police are called to your home, it
makes it everyone’s business”.

“You are running for office, not just of Conservative Party
leader but of prime minister,” Dale added.

In response, Johnson told the audience not to “boo the great
man” but claimed that he had “tried to give my answer pretty
exhaustively”.