THE TROUBLE WITH CARRIE

British prime minister Boris Johnson has been slammed for his wife’s input in national decisions, but some say it’s all just misogyny and political shenanigans

- DENNIS CAVERNELIS

SHE’S been called a puppet master pulling her husband’s strings, a woman who has mesmerised him to such an extent that he simply asks, “how high?” when she tells him to jump.

Princess Nut Nuts, Carrie Antoinette, Lady Macbeth – these are just some of the nicknames Carrie Johnson has been called during the time her husband has been prime minister of the United Kingdom. It’s largely because of her that Boris Johnson is such trouble, her critics say – and her critics are many.

While Boris fights for his political life as a seemingly endless tsunami of scandal crashes over his unkempt head, fingers are being pointed at his attractive wife who’s accused of being ruthless, ambitious and maybe even a little mad.

A new book by Conservative party peer Lord Michael Ashcroft, First Lady: Intrigue at the Court of Carrie and Boris Johnson, is the latest salvo to be lobbed at the 33-year-old mother of two.

Ashcroft accuses Carrie of meddling in government affairs, impersonating the 57-year-old prime minister by sending text messages on his behalf and briefing him about to what to say as he spoke on the phone during his bid for leader of the Conversative Party.

Carrie was the one who pushed for the controversial redecoration of the Downing Street flat where the Johnsons live and was key in the decision to evacuate dogs and cats from a shelter run by her friend Paul “Pen” Farthing in Kabul, Afghanistan, when the Taliban took control. And this at the expense of people stranded in the chaotic capital.

And then there’s “Partygate”, the name given to the series of get-togethers attended by Boris and members of his cabinet while the rest of the UK suffered under lockdown.