Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

24 year age gap between Boris & Carrie

308 replies

Bunnybunny1 · 03/02/2022 04:07

That is a HUGE HUGE age gap.
The pictures of their wedding day are nothing short of disturbing. She genuinely looks like his daughter.
How can she be attracted to him? What do they have in common?
AIBU to think this is generally accepted when it’s actually really weird?

OP posts:
MondayYogurt · 03/02/2022 10:54

From: www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1140375/carrie-symonds-who-is-Boris-Johnson-s-girlfriend-tory-leader-latest

Carrie is the product of an extra-marital affair between Matthew Symonds, now 64, one of the founders of The Independent newspaper, and one of the paper's lawyers, Josephine Mcafee, 70. Intriguingly, just four months after she was born in 1988, her father's wife gave birth to her half-sister Isobel.

cakeambush · 03/02/2022 11:19

A friend knows CJ well. She's perfectly nice but has always been a very keen social climber. There are pictures of her draped over various senior tories apparently. She snagged the biggest fish in that putrid pond, though, and as a PP has said is now set for life.

JustOneCup · 03/02/2022 11:25

Yes it’s a huge age gap but they are posh and rich and it’s clearly a marriage of convenience and met when she was an adult so its viewed as ‘acceptable’

The radfords on the other hand are judged harshly for a small age gap (yes I’m aware sue was 13 and was Noel 16?) and they clearly genuinely care for each other but they aren’t posh so people will make all sorts of assumptions and judgements

So, yes , I guess a massive age gap is fine so long as you’re rich/powerful

Wiseupkid · 03/02/2022 11:28

I don't agree she is set up for life. I think it looks pretty hellish to me. Living in a goldfish bowl of a flat with a newborn and a toddler, with no cash for a nanny or help - no chance of ever buying their own home, as he is well known to be penniless. Sure he will have many options to make serious money post PM days, by which time he won't have to worry about the media scrutiny when he picks up mistress No101 - he is I believe a serial adulterer, so unless Carrie really cares very little for her own dignity and reputation, the biggest fish in the putrid pond comes with a very high price tag.....and is fraught with risks of her ending up a single mother without a pot to piss in so to speak....I don't think she is set up for life, so very far from it.

DrSbaitso · 03/02/2022 11:34

@Wiseupkid

I don't agree she is set up for life. I think it looks pretty hellish to me. Living in a goldfish bowl of a flat with a newborn and a toddler, with no cash for a nanny or help - no chance of ever buying their own home, as he is well known to be penniless. Sure he will have many options to make serious money post PM days, by which time he won't have to worry about the media scrutiny when he picks up mistress No101 - he is I believe a serial adulterer, so unless Carrie really cares very little for her own dignity and reputation, the biggest fish in the putrid pond comes with a very high price tag.....and is fraught with risks of her ending up a single mother without a pot to piss in so to speak....I don't think she is set up for life, so very far from it.
We all know about these children. It would be hard for him to leave them not extremely well provided for.

If he has any secret children, he must be buying their mothers' silence.

MondayYogurt · 03/02/2022 11:37

Penniless? He's going to earn millions the second he steps down - book deals, TV work, the private speaking circuit.

Imissmoominmama · 03/02/2022 11:41

Boris will never be penniless- he’s given so many dodgy contracts- he’ll be well set up.

Blossomtoes · 03/02/2022 11:43

Added to which they already own a property and anyone who thinks there’s no nanny is deluded. Johnson’s idea of penniless is very different to most people’s. I imagine as the shine wears off it would be a considerable relief if he looked elsewhere, it’s hard to see what damage that would do to her dignity and reputation other than for marrying him in the first place.

AlexaShutUp · 03/02/2022 11:44

@Wiseupkid

I don't agree she is set up for life. I think it looks pretty hellish to me. Living in a goldfish bowl of a flat with a newborn and a toddler, with no cash for a nanny or help - no chance of ever buying their own home, as he is well known to be penniless. Sure he will have many options to make serious money post PM days, by which time he won't have to worry about the media scrutiny when he picks up mistress No101 - he is I believe a serial adulterer, so unless Carrie really cares very little for her own dignity and reputation, the biggest fish in the putrid pond comes with a very high price tag.....and is fraught with risks of her ending up a single mother without a pot to piss in so to speak....I don't think she is set up for life, so very far from it.
I would not describe someone with free accommodation and a £160k per annum salary as "penniless".

Sure, he earns less now than he did before he became PM, but equally, he will probably earn even more afterwards that will more than make up for any temporary reduction in his income. And yes, he might struggle to cover all of his outgoings because of the lifestyle choices that he has made, but that does not change the fact that he had the luxury of making those choices in the first place.

Describing him as penniless is, in my view, a real insult to the many people around the country who are actually struggling. He might not be the wealthiest person in the country, but it's extremely crass and insensitive to suggest that he and his wife live anything other than an extremely privileged lifestyle.

Momijin · 03/02/2022 11:45

As much as he is a lying bastard, I can see the attraction and liked him when he was in hignfy.

viques · 03/02/2022 11:46

I wonder if BJ will look so attractive ( in her eyes I hasten to add) when he is not viewed against the backdrop of Number 10, Chequers, photo ops with Jill Biden, access to rich people who can support a charity etc etc etc

Wiseupkid · 03/02/2022 11:46

I disagree, he is years away from making millions, despite the media pundits trying to dispose of him, he isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
By the time he actually gets around to cashing in, he will already have met someone else.. I genuinely believe Carrie is in a very vulnerable position with two very young children, she is in the public spotlight and despite standing by him throughout his premiership if I were her I would be making a plan B for afterwards as he is not someone that is likely to hang around.
Most of us know that Boris is very very hard up, hence the party donor paying for refurbishment and the complaints about the lack of help. HIS finances might improve, but only if they are together...

Wiseupkid · 03/02/2022 11:47

Will Carrie benefit from his post PM days. I don't fancy her chances. Some pretty thing will come along and take her chances, Carrie needs to start making a plan to be financially independent and stop the charity work.

PolytheneRam · 03/02/2022 11:49

I think he's an absolute twat and can't stand him but his marriage is not your concern.

There are 20 years between me and my husband and we're very happy together. We also share a young child.

AlexaShutUp · 03/02/2022 11:49

Most of us know that Boris is very very hard up, hence the party donor paying for refurbishment and the complaints about the lack of help. HIS finances might improve, but only if they are together...

No, he really is not very very hard up. That is a ridiculous statement.

His expensive lifestyle may not align well with his current income, but that is not the same thing.

OutwiththeOutCrowd · 03/02/2022 11:50

Looking at the Blairs as an example, I think there's every reason to predict Boris and Carrie would do rather well from the monetary point of view after leaving Downing Street.

PolytheneRam · 03/02/2022 11:50

Just to add - I was 32 when we married, with plenty of life experience under my belt.

DrSbaitso · 03/02/2022 11:51

He's worth about £1.4 million according to what I can see. Not the richest man in the country by a long shot, but he shouldn't have any trouble supporting his family and being independent, even and especially after he is no longer PM.

Though I do remember a MNer not that long ago claiming that £800k liquid in the bank was "not that much of a buffer".

Blossomtoes · 03/02/2022 11:52

I disagree, he is years away from making millions,

He’ll make a fortune on the speaker circuit, both here and in the US. He’ll get his Telegraph gig back, probably for double the £250k he was paid before and his wealthy mates will be throwing hand outs at him. He’ll cash in the moment the removal van leaves Downing Street.

Wiseupkid · 03/02/2022 11:53

Carrie and Boris are nothing like the Blairs. Cherie is an incredible talent in her own right, making a fortune in the process, she was truly clever and diversified their finances and most importantly she never gave up her career.

Carrie has nothing, no career to speak of and is very likely to be replaced in time. Anyone that thinks Boris is going to change a habit of a lifetime when it comes to women is deluded in my view, he is never going to be anything else. Carrie can not cash in on the deals, the books etc etc and has no real means to make any serious money outside of their marriage.

DrSbaitso · 03/02/2022 11:54

As a QC in Matrix Chambers, Cherie earned more than Tony when he was PM.

Wiseupkid · 03/02/2022 11:54

1.4 won't buy a two bedroom house in central London.

Wiseupkid · 03/02/2022 11:54

Yes Cherie is the brains behind the Blairs for sure.

StrychnineIntheSandwiches · 03/02/2022 11:55

and has picked up some good techniques in the sack, with all his lovers etc.

If someone could be so kind as to fetch me the smelling salts.

DrSbaitso · 03/02/2022 11:55

@Wiseupkid

1.4 won't buy a two bedroom house in central London.
He wouldn't need to live there.
Swipe left for the next trending thread