Boris Johnson instructed his top civil servant to contact a royal charity to discuss a paid job for his wife Carrie, it has been claimed.
The Mirror revealed yesterday that the Prime Minister asked Cabinet Secretary Simon Case to approach the Royal Foundation which runs the Earthshot Prize in autumn 2020.
But fresh claims emerged today that Mr Case, who previously worked for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, had then made contact with their charity.
The senior civil servant is said to have asked the Foundation whether Mrs Johnson would be suitable for a communications role, and whether she could expect to be paid.
The Telegraph claimed that the Palace decided it would be inappropriate for the Prime Minister’s then fiancée to work with the royals.
They reported that Mr Case was given a “quiet rebuke” and the idea was “kicked into the long grass” after staff said it would be inappropriate for Mrs Johnson to work there because she was engaged to the PM.
Officials are understood to have said that Mrs Johnson’s relationship would risk undermining the political neutrality of the royals’ work, while the role may also have required her to speak to journalists.
The Mirror reported that the attempt to secure the job with the royals followed a bid by the PM to get her a role as an ambassador on the COP 26 summit - also vetoed by officials.
There is no suggestion that Mrs Johnson, who was on maternity leave with the couple’s first child at the time, was aware of her husband’s endeavours.
It follows allegations he tried to make her his £100,000-a-year chief of staff two years earlier, when he was Foreign Secretary and she was his girlfriend.
Downing Street denied that the PM himself had ordered Mr Case to approach the charity, but did not deny that he had been involved in discussions about it or that Mr Case had done so.
A spokesman said: “The Prime Minister has never recommended Mrs Johnson for a government role or one as part of the Earthshot Prize.”
