The polarizing Boris Johnson, denounced by his foes as the architect of Brexit and lampooned as "Donald Trump with a thesaurus," finds his chances for becoming the United Kingdom's next prime minister fading because of a very public row with his new live-in lover.
Johnson's apparent assault on Carrie Symonds at her flat in London hogged the headlines in practically all of the UK's major dailies on Sunday, and was the trending political topic on UK social media.
Johnson has publicly refused to comment on his screaming match with Symonds early Friday morning. A concerned neighbor reported it to the police while another neighbor even recorded the altercation because the "Boris row was so frightening I had to call police".
This neighbor also believes "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 behaviors."
Symonds, who is described as a far right activist, was pinpointed as the other woman when Johnson and his second wife, Marina Wheeler, announced they were divorcing after 25 years of marriage in September 2018. Symonds is a former director of communications for Johnson's Conservative Party.
Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs since 2018, are contesting the leadership of the Conservative Party. The party's leader automatically becomes UK prime minister since the Conservatives, otherwise known as the Tories, control the House of Commons.
Either Hunt or Johnson will succeed former prime minister Theresa May, who was forced to step down as party leader on June 7 because of her failure to deliver Brexit to the British people despite over two years of effort.
The new Tory leader will be elected by 160,000 party members in July and Johnson is the odds-on favorite to succeed May. Johnson's lead over Hunt has diminished significantly, however.
A poll commissioned by The Mail before and after Friday's incident involving Johnson and Symonds and released Sunday found Johnson's lead of 8 percent over Hunt had plummeted to only 3 percent after news of the row broke.
The Observer says Johnson is "struggling" to keep his campaign for Tory leader on course as he "stonewalled" questions about Friday's incident. Compounding Johnson's woes is his stunning refusal to talk about the altercation despite being asked about it multiple times during his first debate with Hunt on Saturday. The Observer also reminded readers about Johnson's previous denials of his affair with Symonds.
"Why won't Boris tell us what happened?" asked the Sunday Express.
Early Friday morning, police were called to Johnson's home after neighbors reported a very loud altercation between him and Symonds.
Symonds was said to have shouted, "Get off me!" and "get out of my flat!"
One of Symond's neighbors told a newspaper she heard a woman screaming followed by "slamming and banging" in the early hours of Friday.
The recording by another neighbor reveals Johnson refusing to leave the flat and telling Symonds to "get off" his laptop. A loud crashing noise was later heard.
Symonds can be heard saying Johnson had ruined a sofa with red wine.
"You just don't care for anything because you're spoilt. You have no care for money or anything."
