BORIS Johnson suggested to Downing Street advisers that his wife Carrie should be appointed to two high-profile jobs, it is reported.
The Prime Minister is said to have earmarked a COP26 role as well as one with the royal family to keep Carrie “busy”.
Sources told the Mirror the ideas were shut down by the Tory leader's senior aides, who warned his wife’s status as a private citizen could be undermined.
It comes after the mysterious disappearance of a report in The Times which alleged Johnson wanted to hire Carrie to a £100,000-a-year Government role in 2018 while he was foreign secretary.
Dominic Cummings subsequently alleged that the Prime Minister wanted to hire her to Downing Street in the third quarter of 2020, during the height of the pandemic.
In a fresh report, insiders told The Mirror that Johnson wanted to land Carrie a job as an ambassador for the COP26 summit. He later proposed that she be appointed as communications director for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Earthshot Prize.
The Tory leader reportedly wanted Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, who formerly worked for Prince William, to “take soundings”.
Sources told the paper that Johnson was not necessarily eyeing up a paid role for Carrie, but rather “something to keep her busy”.
Downing Street denied that the Prime Minister recommended his wife for any Government role or one with the Earshot Prize. It did not deny that he talked over the matter with his advisers, however.
Case is not said to have raised the matter with royal officials and no official request was made to COP26 organisers. There is no suggestion that Carrie was aware of the proposals.
On Monday, Downing Street was forced to address the initial Times story, published on Saturday, after it disappeared from later editions. A re-written version on the Mail Online was also taken down.
The Prime Minister’s spokesperson acknowledged there had been contact between Downing Street and The Times before and after the story was published.
Asked whether there were conversations after its initial publication specifically, the spokesperson told reporters: “That’s my understanding”.
He refused to say “who spoke to who”, but denied that it was Johnson himself.
On the allegations printed in The Times, No 10 did not directly refute them but pointed to earlier denials by a spokesperson for Carrie, who said: “These claims are totally untrue.”
The Prime Minister’s former chief aide Cummings has supported the claims and alleged Johnson also wanted to appoint his wife to a Government job in late 2020.
He tweeted: “The ‘missing story’ (pulled by Times after no10 call Fri night) is true. Walters repeatedly published accurate stories, e.g on illegal donations. Times pathetic to have folded & shd reverse ferret. Truth is worse! [Johnson] wanted to appoint girlfriend to gvt job in Q3 2020 too.”
Asked whether Johnson attempted to give her a Government job while he was in Downing Street, his spokesperson said: “Again my understanding is that claim is also untrue but these claims have been reported before and denied.”
