Imaginary meetings and traffic jams: the Downing Street tactics to get Carrie out of the way

Tensions emerged between the old guard of Johnson advisers and Carrie during the summer 2019 Tory leadership campaign, and spilled over into Downing Street .

Two claims were made by multiple figures engaged in the leadership campaign.

One was put forward by four different people: that Carrie would sometimes send text messages from Boris ’s phone.

Another campaign figure was dubbed the “text whisperer” for their apparent ability to tell whether the author was Johnson or Carrie.

A third source who told Johnson they would only join Number 10 if a senior figure linked to Carrie was removed was warned that this would cause problems.

The spokesperson for Carrie said she had “no view whatsoever” about Brandon Lewis being Northern Ireland Secretary and “never discussed” it with her husband, though accepted she had talked up John Whittingdale’s credentials.