BORIS Johnson secretly tied the knot with fiance Carrie Symonds at Westminster Cathedral on Saturday.
It is the Prime Minister's third marriage, having previously wedded Allegra Mostyn-Owen and Marina Wheeler.
Boris and Carrie got engaged in February 2020, before welcoming the pair's first child – Wilfred – two months later.
But the nuptials come just days after the couple were making headlines for the wrong reasons after former senior adviser Dominic Cummings spoke at a select committee hearing this week.
Cummings claimed that Carrie had been trying to 'appoint her friends to particular jobs' within the Government.
Follow our Boris Johnson live blog for all the latest news and updates below…
- Joseph Gamp
NHS CHIEF WARNS OF HOSPITAL PRESSURES AS JOHNSON FACES DECISION ON LOCKDOWN
Boris Johnson faces a difficult decision about whether to end England's lockdown on June 21 with hospitals already under "worrying" pressure, a health chief has warned.
The continued spread of the Indian coronavirus variant has cast doubt on the ability to scrap restrictions, with ministers considering plans to keep some measures – such as the continued use of face masks and guidance on working from home – in place.
NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson said hospital bosses were concerned about the transmissibility of the B1617.2 variant and the large number of people who have still to receive doses of the vaccine.
He warned that although hospitals were not expecting to be overwhelmed by a surge of Covid-19 cases, they were already stretched by going "full pelt" on dealing with the backlog of cases built up during the pandemic and urgent care needs.
Hospitals are operating under reduced capacity due to Covid-19 restrictions and increased numbers of coronavirus patients will add to difficulties by requiring wards to be reconfigured, he added.
- Joseph Gamp
BORIS JOHNSON SEEN LEAVING BACK OF DOWNING STREET AFTER WEDDING CEREMONY RECEPTION
Boris Johnson is seen leaving the back of Downing Street today.
If follows his low key marriage to Carrie Symonds at Westminster Cathedral yesterday – and a reception in the back garden of Number 10.
Boris Johnson is seen leaving the back of Downing Street todayCredit: Nick Obank - Joseph Gamp
BORIS JOHNSON & WIFE CARRIE SHARE TOUCHING WEDDING DAY PICTURE IN DOWNING STREET GARDEN AFTER SECRET CEREMONY
BORIS Johnson and his wife Carrie Symonds have shared the first pictures from their secret wedding ceremony at Westminster Cathedral.
The beaming couple looked besotted in the garden of No10 after their small wedding yesterday – with a larger celebration with friends and family to take place next summer.
Adorned in a flower crown, the bride looked stunning as she stepped out wearing a flowing white dress. Instead of a veil, Carrie's floral headpiece matched the bud placed in the Prime Minister's buttonhole.
And Boris looked smart in a dapper suit and accompanying blue tie – while he looked adoringly into his wife's eyes.
The pair wed during a small secret ceremony at Westminster Cathedral yesterday, as revealed first by The Sun.
Read more here.
- Joseph Gamp
BLUSHING BRIDE
And a No10 spokesman said today: “The Prime Minister and Ms Symonds were married yesterday afternoon in a small ceremony at Westminster Cathedral.
"The couple will celebrate their wedding with family and friends next summer.”
At 2pm, half an hour after the church suddenly locked down, a limo containing Carrie swept into the piazza by the main west door.
The Prime Minister, 56, and his bride, 33, then walked down the aisle of the tiny Lady Chapel to classical music and shared a kiss after their vows were read.
Their year-old son Wilfred was there to see the happy occasion, along with two official witnesses.
- Joseph Gamp
VACCINES MINISTER CONGRATULATES BORIS JOHNSON ON WEDDING
Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi offered his congratulations to Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds following their wedding.
“It’s a great feeling as you come together and of course I think it’s a wonderful thing for both of them, that they have made their marriage vows to one another,” he told Sky News.
Mr Zahawi said the timing of the secret wedding should not send a signal that the further easing of lockdown measures earmarked for June 21 will not happen.
Put to him that the timing suggested that a larger wedding after June 21 was not on the cards, Mr Zahawi said: “I wouldn’t extrapolate anything from that.”
He added: “On June 14, we will set out very clearly, the data that we are continuing to gather from step three, which was on May 17, and then we’ll share that with the nation, as the Prime Minister has done in each and every step from step one, two and three and then of course, step four.”
- Joseph Gamp
BORIS’ SON WILFRED ATTENDED CEREMONY
Boris and Carrie walked down the aisle to classical music and shared a kiss after reading their vows.
Their year-old son Wilfred was there to see the happy occasion – along with two official witnesses.
The ceremony was carried out by Father Daniel Humphreys who had given the couple pre-marriage instructions, and even baptised little Wilfred last year.
- Joseph Gamp
BORIS JOHNSON MARRIES CARRIE SYMONDS AT WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL IN CEREMONY SO SECRET EVEN TOP AIDES DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT IT
Boris Johnson MARRIES Carrie Symonds at Westminster cathedral in ceremony so secret even top aides didn’t know about it
- Joseph Gamp
BORIS SENT OUT SAVE-THE-DATE CARDS FOR 2022 WEDDING JUST SIX DAYS BEFORE CEREMONY
The wedding took place just six days after the couple sent out save-the-date cards to guests telling them to keep Saturday, July 30, 2022 free for a marriage celebration.
Asked about the nuptials tonight, one No10 aide said: “I have been strictly told not to comment.”
Hours before the wedding, Carrie posted a picture of Wilfred in a field of bluebells on Instagram.
- Joseph Gamp
HOW MANY TIMES HAS BORIS BEEN MARRIED?
It’s Carrie’s first wedding – and Boris’s third. He tied the knot with first wife Allegra Mostyn-Owen in 1987.
That marriage was annulled in 1993 — the same year he married Marina Wheeler. The couple had four children but separated in 2018.
They formally divorced weeks before news emerged of Boris’s engagement to Carrie.
The only other PM to marry in office was Lord Liverpool who wed Mary Chester in 1822. His first wife Louisa, 54, died the previous year.
Boris is also thought to be the first PM to divorce in office since Augustus FitzRoy, the 3rd Duke of Grafton.
- Joseph Gamp
BORIS & CARRIE ‘LOOKED BESOTTED’ AT CEREMONY
A member of staff said Boris “couldn’t take his eyes” off Carrie as she walked down the aisle.
“Carrie looked beautiful,” they said. “She had a long white dress with no veil. She looked made up.
“He was extremely happy as you can imagine, he looked very smart, and was in a very dapper suit.
“She came down the aisle and he didn’t take his eyes off her. They read each other’s vows and then they shared a kiss.
“They looked besotted.”
- Joseph Gamp
CATHEDRAL WENT INTO ‘LOCKDOWN’ FOR BORIS’ WEDDING
One witness said the cathedral went into lockdown for the half-hour service.
They said: “It was closed for about half an hour and they all came out after.
“It’s not very often we have weddings here, and when they came out they were all bungled into a car.
“It looked like nobody wanted to see who it was.”
- Joseph Gamp
WHERE DID BORIS AND CARRIE TIE THE KNOT?
Boris and Carrie chose to tie the knot in London’s main Roman Catholic cathedral, just 1.5 miles from Downing Street.
Visiting tourists were blissfully unaware it was about to host the wedding of the year.
But shortly after 1.30pm, the Byzantine-style church was suddenly cleared out. Staff told visitors the building was going into lockdown
- Joseph Gamp
EXPLAINED: WHO HAS CARRIE SYMONDS DATED IN THE PAST?
Ex-boyfriends have largely kept their own counsel but one, Oliver Haiste, paints a picture of an intense young woman with whom he had a “tumultuous” relationship.
He said: “When times were good with Carrie they were great. When times were bad they were awful.
“It’s the most up-and-down relationship I have had.”
Carrie Symonds is “very loyal” when it comes to relationships but can go in the “opposite direction”, according to her ex-boyfriend.
They dated until 2010.
- Joseph Gamp
VACCINES MINISTER CONGRATULATES BORIS JOHNSON ON WEDDING
Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi offered his congratulations to Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds following their wedding.
"It's a great feeling as you come together and of course I think it's a wonderful thing for both of them, that they have made their marriage vows to one another," he told Sky News.
Mr Zahawi said the timing of the secret wedding should not send a signal that the further easing of lockdown measures earmarked for June 21 will not happen.
Put to him that the timing suggested that a larger wedding after June 21 was not on the cards, Mr Zahawi said: "I wouldn't extrapolate anything from that."
He added: "On June 14, we will set out very clearly, the data that we are continuing to gather from step three, which was on May 17, and then we'll share that with the nation, as the Prime Minister has done in each and every step from step one, two and three and then of course, step four."
- Joseph Gamp
BORIS’ SON WILFRED ATTENDED CEREMONY
Boris and Carrie walked down the aisle to classical music and shared a kiss after reading their vows.
Their year-old son Wilfred was there to see the happy occasion – along with two official witnesses.
The ceremony was carried out by Father Daniel Humphreys who had given the couple pre-marriage instructions, and even baptised little Wilfred last year.
- Joseph Gamp
BORIS & CARRIE ‘LOOKED BESOTTED’ AT CEREMONY
A member of staff said Boris “couldn’t take his eyes” off Carrie as she walked down the aisle.
“Carrie looked beautiful,” they said. “She had a long white dress with no veil. She looked made up.
“He was extremely happy as you can imagine, he looked very smart, and was in a very dapper suit.
“She came down the aisle and he didn’t take his eyes off her. They read each other’s vows and then they shared a kiss.
“They looked besotted.”
- Joseph Gamp
BORIS BRIEFED ON COVID LAB LEAK FEARS IN APRIL 2020, CUMMINGS CLAIMS
Boris Johnson was briefed on the fears Covid may have originally leaked from a Wuhan lab in earliest days of the pandemic, his former top advisor Dominic Cummings has revealed.
The Prime Minister is said to have met with national security officials over the issue while the United Kingdom was hit hardest during the first wave in April 2020.
The extraordinary revelation shows discussions over a possible lab leak at the highest levels of government – even as it was dismissed publicly by many scientists and politicians as a baseless “conspiracy theory”.
Cummings was speaking as he appeared before the select committee and faced a grilling on the government’s handling of the Covid pandemic.
While being quizzed about changes to his 2019 blog post discussing risky lab research, the former chief advisor touched on how the lab leak question was handled by Downing Street.
- Katie Davis
BORIS SENT OUT SAVE-THE-DATE CARDS FOR 2022 WEDDING JUST SIX DAYS BEFORE CEREMONY
The wedding took place just six days after the couple sent out save-the-date cards to guests telling them to keep Saturday, July 30, 2022 free for a marriage celebration.
Asked about the nuptials tonight, one No10 aide said: “I have been strictly told not to comment.”
Hours before the wedding, Carrie posted a picture of Wilfred in a field of bluebells on Instagram.
- Katie Davis
HOW MANY TIMES HAS BORIS BEEN MARRIED?
It’s Carrie’s first wedding – and Boris’s third. He tied the knot with first wife Allegra Mostyn-Owen in 1987.
That marriage was annulled in 1993 — the same year he married Marina Wheeler. The couple had four children but separated in 2018.
They formally divorced weeks before news emerged of Boris’s engagement to Carrie.
The only other PM to marry in office was Lord Liverpool who wed Mary Chester in 1822. His first wife Louisa, 54, died the previous year.
Boris is also thought to be the first PM to divorce in office since Augustus FitzRoy, the 3rd Duke of Grafton.
- Katie Davis
CATHEDRAL WENT INTO ‘LOCKDOWN’ FOR BORIS’ WEDDING
One witness said the cathedral went into lockdown for the half-hour service.
They said: “It was closed for about half an hour and they all came out after.
“It’s not very often we have weddings here, and when they came out they were all bungled into a car.
“It looked like nobody wanted to see who it was.”
- Katie Davis
WHERE DID BORIS AND CARRIE TIE THE KNOT?
Boris and Carrie chose to tie the knot in London’s main Roman Catholic cathedral, just 1.5 miles from Downing Street.
Visiting tourists were blissfully unaware it was about to host the wedding of the year.
But shortly after 1.30pm, the Byzantine-style church was suddenly cleared out. Staff told visitors the building was going into lockdown.
- Katie Davis
CONTINUED
Oliver added: "She often brings a lot of intensity to relationships, be they romantic or friendships.
“That passion can work the other way when she is not happy with you.
“When times are good, she is very loyal. When times are bad, she can go in completely the opposite direction and possibly, in my view, to excess.”
- Katie Davis
WHO HAS CARRIE SYMONDS DATED?
Ex-boyfriends have largely kept their own counsel but one, Oliver Haiste, paints a picture of an intense young woman with whom he had a “tumultuous” relationship.
He said: “When times were good with Carrie they were great. When times were bad they were awful.
“It’s the most up-and-down relationship I have had.”
Carrie Symonds is “very loyal” when it comes to relationships but can go in the “opposite direction”, according to her ex-boyfriend.
They dated until 2010.
- Katie Davis
HOW DID BORIS AND CARRIE MEET?
There’s a 24-year age gap between the PM and his now-wife.
Pals first caught wind that he fancied Carrie, then Tory director of communications, in February 2018 when they attended the party’s Black and White fundraising ball.
They hardly took their eyes off each other and six days later Carrie tweeted enthusiastically about a speech the PM had made about Brexit.
That evening they were spotted tucking into a Valentine’s dinner in London’s Covent Garden.
The couple went to extraordinary lengths to meet during and after work. And the PM sent a car to pick up Carrie from a wedding held near Chevening, his country retreat in Kent.
- Katie Davis
BORIS’ SON WILFRED ATTENDED CEREMONY
Boris and Carrie walked down the aisle to classical music and shared a kiss after reading their vows.
Their year-old son Wilfred was there to see the happy occasion – along with two official witnesses.
The ceremony was carried out by Father Daniel Humphreys who had given the couple pre-marriage instructions, and even baptised little Wilfred last year.
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