The claim is that Boris Johnson tried to hire his current wife as his chief of staff – with a £100,000-a-year salary – while he was foreign secretary and married to somebody else.

It said the idea had fallen apart when his closest advisers learned of it.

It was published as a news story in The Times, early on Saturday – but was suddenly withdrawn amid rumours of a high-level government intervention.

A MailOnline rewrite has also been removed without explanation, and news aggregation sites have deleted their copies of this article.

But if Boris Johnson – or any of his aides – had hoped to suppress the story, they may now be reeling from the discovery that their heavy-handedness has had the opposite effect.

It is apparently known as The Streisand Effect: efforts to delete a story from the internet make the public much more interested in it.

So while

a No 10 source also said the story was untrue – and suggested it was sexist.

“This is a grubby, discredited story turned down by most reputable media outlets because it isn’t true. The facts speak for themselves.”

and the report’s original author, Simon Walters

told the Guardian: “I stand by the story. I went to all the relevant people over two days. Nobody offered me an on-the-record denial and Downing St didn’t deny it off the record either,”

the public are having a barrel of fun at the expense of the prime minister – and his wife:

Just look up #Carriegate on Twitter and you’ll see a lot of people having a lot of fun.

And of course the story raises questions that deserve answers.

If Johnson really did try to install the woman who was his then-lover into a high-paying job at his government department (which seems a common practice, looking at someone whose name sounds like Hat Mancock) while he was married to someone else, what does that say about his morals?

That’s why This Writer likes the tweet that suggests Johnson should just go the whole hog and appoint her as his new ethics advisor.

Source: Carrie Johnson and the curious case of the vanishing Times story | Carrie Johnson | The Guardian

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/

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