The run around
The Times shouldn't be allowed to pretend it didn't vanish a story about Boris Johnson
The first edition of Saturday’s Times featured a story claiming that Boris Johnson, then Foreign Secretary, had attempted to install his then-mistress Carrie Symonds as his Chief Of Staff. It wasn’t a new accusation; Lord Ashcroft told the story in his biography of Carrie Johnson that was serialised by the Daily Mail in February1. Simon Walters, the writer of the Times story — himself formerly of the Mail — simply added that he had four senior sources who corroborate the account.
There’s a good chance that the story would have passed with little comment but then it vanished. It was pulled from subsequent print editions of the paper, replaced with a filler piece rehashing quotes from Priti Patel’s interview with The Daily Telegraph, and was not published on The Times website. A rewrite by MailOnline also disappeared.
The writer Sonia Purnell, a former colleague of Johnson’s at The Daily Telegraph and the author of the bracingly unhagiographic biography Just Boris, noticed. She posted a photo of the print story on Twitter. Cue the cries of “injunction” and “super-injunction” (the latter being one that likes to wear its pants over tights).
Given subsequent reporting by The New European and The Guardian, it’s clear that there was no legal challenge to the story being published. Injunctions happen before publication and one being in place would have stopped other publications from discussing the details.
That suggests that it was killed as a result of pressure from Number 10. Journalists at The Times tell me they’ve no idea why the story was withdrawn but that they assume someone was leaned on at a high level. (Update 20.06.22 at 14.28: The Independent reports that Number 10 admits that it did pressure the paper to remove the story).
Times editor (and Rachel Johnson’s tennis partner) John Witherow wasn’t editing the paper on Friday. The task was delegated — as is not uncommon — to his deputy, the malign Creature Comforts tortoise, Tony Gallagher. According to The Guardian, “multiple sources [say] he made the call to drop the story from later editions.”
News UK has declined to comment on the decision but Simon Walters has gone on the record to defend his reporting:
I stand by the story. I went to all the relevant people over two days. Nobody offered me an on-the-record denial and Downing St didn’t deny it off the record either.
He told The New European:
I was in lengthy and detailed communication with No 10 at a high level, Ben Gascoigne2 and Mrs Johnson’s spokeswoman, for up to 48 hours before the paper went to press. At no point did any of them offer an on-the-record denial of any element of the story.
Dominic Cummings, British politics most reliably unreliable narrator, tweeted yesterday:
The ‘missing story’ (pulled by Times after no10 call Fri night) is true. Walters repeatedly published accurate stories, e.g. on illegal donations. Times pathetic to have folded and should reverse ferret. Truth is worse. [Johnson] wanted to appoint girlfriend to [a government] job in Q3 2020 too.
The Times has its Corrections & Clarifications box, today buried on p.28, but unsurprisingly there’s no mention of the story there either. The comment section under Clare Foges’ column is, however, playing host to a game of whack-a-mole as Times subscribers ask what happened and the mods rush to delete the comments.
They’re not alone in wanting an explanation. The journalist Michael Crick tweeted:
I pay a lot of money for my Times subscription. Please could somebody at the Times please explain why this story was pulled? If it was inaccurate please could you warn fellow journalists so we don’t repeat your mistake?
Rachel Shabi reviewing the papers on the BBC News Channel on Sunday was quickly shut down by the presenter when she said:
It is worth saying that The Times still hasn’t explained why it disappeared a story, yesterday, about Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary [wanting] to appoint his future wife, Carrie Symonds, to Chief of Staff — a £100,000 position — and was dissuaded.
The story was discussed during the 7.40 am newspaper roundup on Saturday’s edition of the Today programme…
The Times claims that Boris Johnson tried to promote his future wife Carrie Symonds to a top post in the Foreign Office when he led the department. Sources tell the paper the then-Foreign Secretary wanted Ms. Symonds, who at the time was the Conservative Head of Communications, to be appointed Foreign Office chief of staff, which had a salary of at least £100,000. The Times says Mr Johnson’s allies blocked the promotion believing it would have left him dangerously exposed. The paper claims three of his aids threatened to resign over the proposed appointment. Number 10 and Mrs Johnson have declined to comment on the claims.
… but that was the last time it was mentioned.
The Times should not be allowed to get away without giving an explanation of the story’s disappearance nor should the BBC be let off the hook for ignoring the deletion.
Walters, who’s published plenty of stories on Johnson that have proved to be true (as well as no shortage of sycophancy, see: The Borisaurus: A Dictionary of Boris Johnson), says he stands by his reporting so why isn’t his employer standing behind him?
On Sky News’ paper review on Saturday night, Peter Oborne said:
I want to challenge John Witherow, the editor of The Times newspaper, to explain why they happened and give us an assurance that he didn’t come under pressure from the Johnsons. It’s quite an important story that was given a prominent position and suddenly vanished, not just from the Times but also from the Mail. It’s a very important matter concerning free speech and I think the Times needs to explain itself.
He has a charming belief — one that I don’t share — in the worth of Witherow’s word. I suspect the best we’ll get is the run-around. One as unedifying as the 2017 spectacle of Tony Gallagher and Boris Johnson galumphing around Manchester together.
No one tells them what to write? Well, it certainly looks like someone told them what to delete. And that matters more than the story in the first place.
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There is also a reference to the rumour in Alan Duncan’s diaries, published last April, — “22 April 2018: “Apparently Carrie Symonds, head of press in Conservative HQ, is due to become a SPAD in the FCO. It’s the first I’ve heard of it.”
One of the Prime Minister’s three deputy Chiefs of Staff. He’s often called his “enforcer” despite looking like he’d struggle to enforce the skin off a rice pudding.
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