Boris Johnson was struggling to keep his campaign to become prime minister on course on Saturday night as he repeatedly refused to explain why police had been called to his home after a loud, late-night altercation with his partner.
Senior Tories were quick to raise fresh concerns over the former foreign secretary’s suitablity for No 10 as the favourite to succeed Theresa May stonewalled question after question about the incident at the first hustings of the leadership contest in front of party members.
Asked about the story, revealed on Friday evening by the Guardian, Johnson told the Birmingham audience that people did not “want to hear about that kind of thing”. When pressed on whether understanding his character was important in the battle to replace Theresa May, Johnson insisted he would only talk about his plans “for the country and our party”.
Radio presenter Iain Dale, a former Tory candidate who hosted the hustings, accused Johnson of “completely avoiding” questions about the argument with Carrie Symonds, a former Conservative party head of press, at their home in the early hours of Friday morning. “People are entitled to ask about me and my determination, my character and what I want to do for the country,” Johnson said. “Let me just tell you that when I make a promise in politics, about what I’m going to do, I keep that promise and I deliver.”
The police confirmed they were called to the couple’s south London flat after an argument was heard by neighbours. They said they heard slamming and banging, adding that at one point Symonds could be heard telling Johnson to “get off me” and “get out of my flat”.
Foreign office minister Alan Duncan, who worked under Johnson said his former boss now had a “big question mark over his head” adding that he had shown a “lack of discipline” throughout his career.
A poll conducted yesterday showed support for Johnson had fallen sharply following the incident. His eight-point lead for the Tory crown earlier in the week had fallen to three points behind rival Jeremy Hunt by yesterday morning. Among Tory voters, when asked who would make the best prime minister, Johnson’s lead had slumped from 27% to 11% in the same period, according to Survation, who carried out the polls for the Mail on Sunday.
Last night the neighbour who contacted the police, Tom Penn, 30, a playwright, issued a statement saying he wanted to put the record straight on his reasons for recording the row and calling 999.
Penn said he only acted as a last resort and that he was speaking out as he was concerned by the “bizarre and fictitious allegations” made about him and his wife, Eve Leigh, 34, a fellow playwright.
Penn said: “In the early hours of Friday morning, I answered a phone call from a take-away food delivery driver. At the same time, I heard what sounded like shouting coming from the street. I went downstairs, on the phone to the driver, and collected my food. On the way back into my flat, it became clear that the shouting was coming from a neighbour’s flat. It was loud enough and angry enough that I felt frightened and concerned for the welfare of those involved, so I went inside my own home, closed the door, and pressed record on the voice memos app on my phone.
“After a loud scream and banging, followed by silence, I ran upstairs, and with my wife agreed we should check on our neighbours. I knocked three times at their front door, but there was no response. I went back upstairs into my flat, and we agreed that we should call the police.”
Another neighbour, a nursery teacher who lives with her husband and four-year-old son in the top flat next door, told the Times that she could hear “shouting and screaming”.
Fatimah, 32, said: “It was really loud, loud enough to make me turn down the TV and see what was going on. I could hear shouting and screaming from a lady, she sounded really angry. There was a man’s voice too, but he was much calmer and he was telling her to calm down but she was still chucking things about,” she said. “It went on for about 10 minutes. I’ve never heard anything like it. I was considering calling the police but then a [police] van and car came.”
The incident has enouraged those backing Jeremy Hunt, Johnson’s opponent for PM. With Johnson having positioned himself as the candidate in favour of a hard Brexit, Hunt used the hustings to harden his position on no-deal saying he would “100%” leave the EU at the end of October with no deal if he believed the EU was not willing to compromise.
Today Johnson is expected to come under further pressure over his Brexit policy when Liam Fox, the international trade secretary will call into doubt his claim that the UK would be not be hit automatically by tariffs on EU exports in the event of a no-deal outcome.
