Who is Carrie Symonds? Party-loving spin doctor who has grown close to Boris Johnson as his marriage crumbles
SPIN doctor Carrie Symonds is a popular figure in Westminster — where rumours of a close friendship with Boris Johnson have swirled for months.
The young PR guru, 30, regularly attended parliamentary bashes and Tory shindigs when she worked as a Conservative Party comms chief.
She grew up in East Sheen, South West London. She went to £20,000-a-year Godolphin and Latymer School in West London.
Old girls include Nigella Lawson, Kate Beckinsale and Davina McCall.
She also worked for current Home Secretary Sajid Javid when he had the local government brief and with John Whittingdale when he was Culture Secretary.
After a brief spell as an adviser to Tory MP Zac Goldsmith she was appointed to the strategic role of Conservative communications chief.
It led to her being named as the UK’s second most powerful public relations professional by PR Week magazine.
Carrie has spent the past three years working alongside and advising some of the Tory Party’s biggest names, including ex-Home Secretary Amber Rudd and Environment Secretary Michael Gove.
She recently left her job at the Tory Party after eight years amid claims of rows with No 10 over her closeness to Mr Johnson’s camp.
She is due to start a new job with technology giant Bloomberg tomorrow, promoting clean oceans.
She tweeted cryptically: “Sea otters have the thickest fur of all animals.”
And she regularly posts glamorous pictures of herself on social media — including one where she dances on a car bonnet in the grounds of the Palace of Westminster.
Her closeness to Boris Johnson fuelled rumours in Westminster this summer.
Carrie has been with him at everything from private dinner dates to political functions.
The former Foreign Secretary has been texting her at all hours and once sent his car to pick her up at a wedding.
A source said: “Their close friendship has been an open secret for several months now.
"We couldn’t help noticing the signs. They were there for all to see.
“It’s fair to say they’ve grown incredibly close and there is a real bond of trust and friendship between them.”
Boris's spokesman said: “Boris never discusses anything to do with his private life.”
Eyebrows were raised at a colleague’s wedding when Carrie cheerfully waved her mobile phone around to show mischievous text messages from Boris, then still Foreign Secretary.
One guest said: “Carrie was having a good time and was quite thrilled with all the texts she was getting.
“She showed them to a colleague from Conservative HQ but they saw something they shouldn’t have.
“Then all of a sudden a car turned up and everyone said Carrie was off in Boris’s car, because Chevening is close by.
“There was speculation that it might even have been a ministerial car that picked her up because it was a nice motor. Either way, it’s clear it wasn’t just any old taxi.”
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Three months ago Carrie also boasted to friends of spending the evening with Boris.
A source said: “She turned up laden with luggage as she had been staying away in the countryside.
“She explained she had been in Oxfordshire camping with friends but had enjoyed dinner with Boris the previous evening. She didn’t seem to mind who she was telling.”
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