Think Boris Johnson breaks the mold? Wait until you meet his girlfriend

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Think Boris Johnson breaks the mold? Wait until you meet his girlfriend

Shawdesh Desk:

When Boris Johnson’s girlfriend Carrie Symonds joined the entourage of staff who gathered outside 10 Downing Street to watch his first speech as British Prime Minister, witnesses reported that photographers went “bananas.” Until now, the 31-year-old former Conservative party communications official has done a pretty good job of staying out of the media spotlight — rarely seen on the campaign trail and steering clear of historic moments like meeting the Queen.

Keeping a low profile for the past 18 months as girlfriend of a senior politician is one thing. But doing the same as partner of the Prime Minister will prove more difficult.

In recent days, the British media has gone into overdrive. From her living arrangements (will she move into Downing Street?) to her involvement in diplomatic affairs (will she accompany Johnson on foreign trips?), every aspect of Symonds’s relationship with Johnson has been the subject of speculation.

Downing Street told CNN it did not know whether Symonds would move in to the famous residence.These are uncharted waters for the British establishment — never in living memory has a UK Prime Minister had an unmarried partner while in office. Unlike US first ladies, UK first partners have no strictly defined role, and it will largely be up to Symonds to shape it.

“It’s kind of made up as they go along, so it’s very dependent on the personality of the particular person, said Professor Tony Travers, director of the Institute of Public Affairs at the London School of Economics.Travers pointed to the way former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s wife Cherie continued her career as a lawyer and “was very much her own person with almost nothing to do” with her husband’s job.

Meanwhile Theresa May’s husband Philip stood by her side as she delivered her final speech as Prime Minister. “He decided to have a supportive, low profile, and the press pretty much left it at that,” said Travers.A powerful political communicatorThe new Prime Minister is also unusual for having a partner who had a political career — long before she met Johnson.

The daughter of Matthew Symonds, a co-founder of the Independent newspaper, and the paper’s lawyer Josephine McCaffee, Symonds had a privileged upbringing in southwest London where she attended a private girls’ school.Symonds studied theater studies and art history at the well-respected University of Warwick, before working as a press officer for the Conservative Party in 2010 and quickly rising up its ranks.

She was part of the campaign team that helped to get Johnson re-elected as mayor of London in 2012.At 29, Symonds became the youngest-ever director of communications at the party, and analysts say she’s been crucial in tidying up Johnson’s famously disheveled persona during the leadership campaign.

“Since she’s come on the scene he’s become a much trimmer figure, he’s lost weight, he’s had his hair cut … he’s definitely smartened up his appearance,” said Caroline Wheeler, deputy political editor at the Sunday Times newspaper.

Symonds is a “very established political communicator,” Wheeler added. “She’ll know how to keep him on message.”Throughout the leadership campaign Johnson was “very careful” about whom he spoke to, said Wheeler, doing few newspaper interviews and shunning some of the major TV debates.

“He’s been a lot more disciplined figure and lots of people have credited Carrie with that transformation,” Wheeler said.Symonds now works as a senior adviser to conservation charity Oceana, and her Twitter feed is filled with stories ranging from overfishing to banning trophy hunting.

Some analysts believe she will have the PM’s ear on the climate crisis and animal welfare, an issue that Johnson unexpectedly touched on during his inaugural speech.”She’ll influence policies, particularly the environment,” said LBC radio broadcaster and political commentator Iain Dale. Johnson has been “talking a lot about climate change during the campaign,” he said.