By Sammie Jones-
Boris Johnson must sort out his private life if he wants to be trusted as prime minister.Johnson, who is favourite to become Britain’s next prime minister has the responsibility of keeping his partner, Carrie Symonds under control, after she was recorded shouting and swearing at Johnson at her South London flat in Camberwell.
Yesterday, a personal clash between Symonds and Johnson’s aids was revealed by The Sun Newspaper, citing The Daily Mail. Reports of Mayhem between Johnson and his partner a week ago, led to the police being called to Symonds address. Her conduct of screaming so loudly at the to of her voice in a quiet neighbourhood, was deplorable, unless Johnson was behaving badly in a way that was provocative.
The 31 year old former director of communications for The Conservative party knows Johnson is vying for the office of prime minister, making her outburst of anger all the more worrying. Now, she is reportedly clashing with Johnson’s aids over the second half of his campaign. Her interest in Johnson’s political campaign, and whatever associated criticism she has about its process may easily have been connected with their row in her property. The pair are reported to have had four blazing rows in four weeks tat threatened their relationship.
Johnson is not alone in the view that the cause of her anger has no reflection on his professed capability to run the country effectively if he becomes prime minister. One problem with such a conclusion is that it leaves out the potential common thread between whatever sparked his partner’s angry and Johnson’s competence as a prime minister. If for instance, Symonds was angry that Johnson continues to turn up home much later than he promises, it raises issues of trust. Can he be trusted to keep his word?
If she was suspicious that Johnson had been up to his old tricks of cheating , but had no evidence, then his sense of responsibility to commitments will be questionable.
If their argument was related to political ambitions she has in Johnson’s government, or her disapproval of campaign proceedings, the breakdown in communication was her fault. would have been her fault. Given Johnson’s high political ambitions, it is his duty to keep a relationship he defines as private out of public attention. The British people don’t want a prime minister who may possibly be subjecting his partner to domestic violence, though we have no evidence what caused the disturbing row which was eventually publicised.It doesn’t look good when we put the scenario in the context of his historical relationships.
RIGHT
The aspiring Conservative leader and next prime minister was right in stating that the matter was private. It still left a bitter taste in the mouths of most analysts because a prospective leader should demonstrate his leadership qualities first to his partner, who should gold him in high regard.There was no evidence of misbehaviour on Johnson’s part, but it was the woman behaving badly who escaped criticism. She escaped criticism because the reason for her behaviour is unknown, and Johnson is the one going for the prime minister’s job.
There wasn’t much of a legitimate public interest in knowing the precise cause of the argument , but there was a need for Johnson to keep the public assured that he is in charge, and that his partner has been told never to react that way in future. He would have no problem saying words to that effect, if the prime minister in waiting was completely blameless.
Pictures of the couple sharing an intimate moment after the row was later published in The Daily Mail Online, with their pals saying Johnson and Symonds are very much in love and plan to get married. There are suspicions that the publicised picture may have been a publicity stunt by Johnson to portray a united front in an attempt to salvage the potential damage of the row ruining his chances of becoming prime minister.