Criticism of PM’s wife is ‘sexist’ – health secretary
The UK Health Secretary blasted former Conservative party politician Lord Michael Ashcroft as misogynistic and “sexist” on Monday over claims that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s wife had too much sway and had prevented him from becoming a great leader.
Ashcroft’s comments were made in a serialized biography in The Daily Mail on Saturday.
Ashcroft’s column claimed that Johnson had long been a lonely figure until he met Carrie, but she made it even worse, isolating him from his children. He also inferred that Carrie is short on friends too and has negatively impacted the PM’s leadership capabilities.
Speaking to SkyNews, Javid labeled the claims as “sexist, undignified and unfair” and stated that the partners of politicians should be “off-limits” to such criticism.
“Why would you go after, attack the partners of politicians? By all means go after the politicians, but why their wives, their husbands, their partners?” he asked.
“This is just about going after an individual… I actually do think there is sexism involved in this,” Javid continued, adding, “And I just think doing this, in this case going after Carrie Johnson, is undignified, is unfair, and it is just wrong.”
A spokesperson for Boris Johnson’s wife said that Ashcroft’s comments were “just the latest attempt by bitter ex-officials” to discredit her and insisted that the PM’s wife has “no role in the government.”
It has previously been alleged that Carrie insisted on the costly redecoration of the No. 10 flat where they live and pushed the PM to evacuate animals from the Nowzad charity from Kabul following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
Carrie had previously worked for the Conservative Party as a press officer and as an adviser to the then-Culture Secretary John Whittingdale and Javid when he was at the communities department. Currently, Carrie Johnson works for a conservation group.
