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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Pippa Crerar

Boris Johnson and Carrie to host lavish wedding bash at Tory billionaire's country home

Boris Johnson is planning to hold his wedding party at a grand country house in the Cotswolds owned by a billionaire Tory donor, the Mirror can reveal.

The Prime Minister and his wife Carrie are set to host the lavish bash for family and friends to mark their marriage at Daylesford House this weekend.

The Grade 1 listed home belongs to JCB chairman Lord Bamford who has given some £14 million in cash and gifts to the party since 2001.

Sources suggested the Tory peer, who backed Mr Johnson's leadership bid in 2019, was covering at least some of the the cost of the party.

Mr and Mrs Johnson are understood to have organised a marquee in the 1,500-acre grounds where guests will be wined and dined before dancing the night away.

The party will be held at Daylesford House at the weekend, The Mirror can reveal (Alamy Stock Photo)

The couple had initially planned to throw a big wedding bash at Chequers, the PM's grace-and-favour mansion, and had already sent save-the-date invitations to guests.

But plans for the extravagant event, first revealed by the Mirror, led to accusations that Mr Johnson was trying to delay his departure from No 10.

The couple had tied the knot in a secret ceremony at Westminster Cathedral in front of just a handful of guests in May 2021.

They then celebrated in the Downing Street garden but were only allowed 30 guests because of Covid restrictions in place at the time.

The Prime Minister with Tory donor Lord Bamford, chairman of JCB (PA)

A No 10 spokesman said: "We do not comment on speculation regarding private or family matters which do not involve any ministerial declarations or taxpayer funds."

The close links between Mr Johnson and the billionaire Bamford family saw the PM visit the JCB factory in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire during the 2019 election campaign.

The PM famously used the trip to crash a digger, with “Get Brexit done” emblazoned on it, through a fake wall marked “gridlock” as he drummed up support for his EU exit plan.

In January 2019, while he was brooding on the backbenches plotting his path to No10, Mr Johnson made his “comeback” speech at JCB headquarters.

The firm paid him £10,000 just three days before he delivered his address, which was peppered with references to the company and its diggers.

During the pandemic, the Johnsons dined in style thanks to a secret £12,500 gourmet food supply from Daylesford organic, which is owned by Lady Bamford.

Mr Johnson and Lord Bamford at the unveiling of a hydrogen powered JCB in October last year (PA)

A heaving box of shopping from Daylesford – one of the most expensive food stores in Britain which is favoured by celebrities including Hugh Grant – was delivered weekly to Downing Street with a bouquet of flowers.
In addition, pre-prepared meals were dropped off at lunchtime on weekdays by the same delivery man, prepared by Mr Johnson's Daylesford 'personal chef'.

In the run-up to last May’s local elections, the PM used the JCB tycoon's £47million Gulfstream 650 private jet and helicopter to tour the country campaigning.

Mr Johnson also managed to squeeze in a visit to the Tory donor's factory, where the pair took a stroll, on the first day of his trip to India in April.

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