You’ve heard of Clarkson’s Farm, but what about Johnson’s? Since moving to an estate in Oxfordshire, a stone’s throw from Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm, former PM Boris seems to be taking an interest in all creatures great and small. Last week he got some ducks, which his wife Carrie debuted on Instagram, named Twiglet, Gherkin, Black Head, Turbo and Pickle. And yesterday she unveiled chickens too.
Carrie has become something of an influencer of late, making her account public, and posting pictures of her family’s new life in the country. The Johnsons recently bought a £3.8m nine-bedroom pile near Henley, she posted pictures of bargains at a nearby car boot sale, including a chair for £30 and a mug for £2, plus clothes for her children. Later, she posted a snap putting paintings up, including the one pictured by Boris’s late mother, Charlotte.
Their idyllic life did have a bit of a hiccup when they had to deny claims by a former nanny that she was let go for having a drink with the former prime minister. Theresa Dawes, 59, was hired to help look after the couple’s children around the birth of their third child, Frank Alfred Odysseus, in July. But Ms Dawes claims she was unfairly dismissed just three days into her three-month contract, when Mrs Johnson returned from hospital and reportedly gave her just 15 minutes to pack her bags. A spokesperson for the former prime minister and his wife told The Times the allegations are “untrue”.
Johnson’s adviser told us this week that the ex-PM was focusing on his ducks and not watching Tory Conference. But he is still keeping one eye on developments in the party. Last night he weighed in behind David Cameron to condemn the scrapping of HS2 to Manchester. Elsewhere it was reported that Dominic Cummings, who is also somewhat in exile, was the mastermind behind Rishi Sunak’s U-turn. Can we expect another bout of Boris v Dom?
