Boris Johnson’s neighbour who recorded late-night row breaks silence and insists he was ‘concerned for their welfare’ as he’s accused of ‘dirty tricks’
THE neighbour who recorded Boris Johnson’s row with girlfriend Carrie Symonds has insisted he was “concerned for her welfare.” Remainer Tom Penn, 29, said he called the police after knocking on Carrie’s door – and insisted that leaking a recording to The Guardian was in the “public interest”. He said: “It was loud enough and […]
THE neighbour who recorded Boris Johnson’s row with girlfriend Carrie Symonds has insisted he was “concerned for her welfare.”
Remainer Tom Penn, 29, said he called the police after knocking on Carrie’s door – and insisted that leaking a recording to The Guardian was in the “public interest”.
He said: “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 that 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.”
Johnson’s partner Carrie shouted “get off me” and “get out of my flat” during the bust-up.
The would-be Prime Minister, 55, lives with PR guru Carrie, 31, at a flat in South London.
In the recording, Mr Johnson can allegedly be heard refusing to leave the flat and telling his girlfriend to “get off my f***ing laptop” before a loud crash is heard.
Carrie then reportedly told him he had ruined a sofa with red wine and added: “You just don’t care for anything because you’re spoilt.
“You have no care for money or anything.”
Mr Penn – who admitted voting Remain – then added: “To be clear, the recordings were of the noise within my own home. My sole concern up until this point was the welfare and safety of our neighbours. I hope that anybody would have done the same thing.
“Once clear that no one was harmed, I contacted the Guardian, as I felt it was of important public interest.
“I believe it is reasonable for someone who is likely to become our next prime minister to be held accountable for all of their words, actions and behaviours.”
‘GET OFF MY F***ING LAPTOP’
MP Ben Wallace, a senior ally of Mr Johnson tweeted a message in support, before quickly deleting it.
He wrote: “What a non story ‘couple have row.’ Lefty neighbours give recording to Guardian.
“Newspaper reaches new low is a better news story.”
Nursery worker Fatima, 32, lives next door to the couple with her four-year-old son.
She said: “I heard a lot of noise, mostly screaming and shouting. It lasted about ten minutes.
“I was watching something on TV, I had to mute it. I’ve never heard anything like it before.
“I heard three or four glass objects being thrown while she was shouting.
“He had a much calmer voice and was telling her to calm down, but she was still chucking things about.
“She sounded very angry, shouting and swearing. It did cross my mind to call the police but then they turned up and I was reassured.
“I saw one police car and a van, they stayed about ten minutes and left. Then it was all quiet for the rest of the night.”
ROW ‘NOT SERIOUS’
Last night the couple tried to play down the incident — telling friends they did have a row but insisting it was not serious.
But stunned allies of the former Foreign Secretary were trying to get hold of the tape to assess the potential damage for themselves.
And there were unconfirmed reports Johnson may seek an injunction over it.
Scotland Yard said last night the pair were “safe and well” and no offences had been committed.
A spokesman said: “At 00.24hrs, police responded to a call from a resident in the SE5 area of Camberwell.
“The caller was concerned for the welfare of a female neighbour.
“Police attended and spoke to all occupants of the address who were all safe and well.
“There were no offences or concerns apparent to the officers and there was no cause for police action.”
But the shocking revelations will throw into doubt Mr Johnson’s hopes of a smooth journey into Downing Street in the next month.
Last night allies of the former Foreign Secretary were left stunned by the revelation.
It appeared Boris had not even told any of his campaign team about the cops’ visit.
Mr Johnson’s spokesman refused to make any comment on the incident last night, or deny any of the facts about it — first reported by The Guardian.
But one senior MP close to Boris said last night: “What the hell is he thinking? This is our worst nightmare”.
When The Sun broke the news to another senior MP backer, he said: “Oh f***.” But others close to Mr Johnson attempted to shake it off.
Another senior figure on his team said: “It’s just an argument with his girlfriend isn’t it?
“I’m sure it can all be explained, and that’s what I imagine Carrie will be doing tomorrow.”
However, the shocking revelations will still throw into doubt Mr Johnson’s hopes of a smooth journey into Downing Street in the next month.
The incident will raise questions among Tory members – who will choose between Mr Johnson and Jeremy Hunt – over Boris’s complicated private life.
He is twice divorced and had a love child while Mayor of London.
After Friday morning’s incident, one senior MP close to Boris said: “What the hell is he thinking? This is our worst nightmare”.
THE BATTLE FOR NO10
Johnson’s challenger — his successor as Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt — refused to comment.
But a Hunt backer said: “If this is as bad as it first looks, this could be the shortest Tory leadership contest ever.”
The alleged domestic incident happened just hours after Foreign Office minister Mark Field grabbed a female environmental protester by the neck at a City dinner.
It will raise questions among Tory members — who will choose between Mr Johnson and Mr Hunt — over Boris’s complicated private life.
He is twice divorced and had a love child while Mayor of London.
Rumours first began circulating about his relationship with Carrie as he separated from his second wife Marina Wheeler last year.
Boris Johnson's very complicated love life
Love rat Boris Johnson has been married twice – and had a string of infamous affairs.
He wed first wife Allegra Mostyn-Owen in 1987 after meeting her at Oxford University.
But they were divorced six years later after he had an affair with lawyer Marina Wheeler.
He married Marina but was caught out over his affair with society writer Petronella Wyatt.
She was one of Mr Johnson’s columnists when he was editor of the Spectator.
He denied reports of the affair as nothing more than an “inverted pyramid of piffle”.
However, Petronella later revealed she had an abortion and suffered a miscarriage.
Pals claimed their romance overlapped with an affair with Times Educational Supplement journalist Anna Fazackerley.
Then, a year after he became Mayor of London in 2008, his love life blew up again when he fathered a child with arts consultant Helen Macintyre.
Rumours about his latest love Carrie Symonds first circulated when his separation with Marina was announced last year.
Carrie — who was targeted by black cab sex attacker John Worboys — was credited with having smartened up Boris and appeared at his campaign launch last week.
This prompted speculation that they would soon be living together in No 10.
Mr Johnson has been the runaway leader in the race to succeed Theresa May as PM.
On Thursday night he won the latest vote in the battle for No10 with 160 backers — more than half of all 313 Tory MPs.
Mr Hunt bagged 77 votes — pipping Michael Gove who got 75 votes and was eliminated.
Tim Bale, Politics Professor at Queen Mary University of London, yesterday tweeted: “Who was it who first said ‘The only person who can stop Boris Johnson is… Boris Johnson?”
MOST READ IN NEWS
The former Foreign Secretary and Mayor of London is in a run-off with Mr Hunt, with Tory party members set to vote over the next month.
In an interview with the Telegraph today, Mr Hunt accuses Boris of being a “bottler”.
And he challenges his opponent to a series of open hustings and TV debates to make the battle for Number 10 a “a proper British competition”.
A spokesman for Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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