Carrie and Boris Johnson’s plan for lavish wedding party at Chequers ‘is real reason he’s clinging on’

The invitations have gone out, the flowers have been chosen and the caterers booked.

Carrie and Boris Johnson are due to throw a lavish wedding party at Chequers in just three weeks’ time, it emerged on Thursday.

Sources claim the long-awaited bash is one of the reasons the Prime Minister is determined to cling on as caretaker Tory leader, backed wholeheartedly by his wife.

The party, on July 30, represents the first time the couple will be able to properly celebrate with friends and family and they are determined to make full use of the 16th-century Buckinghamshire manor.

The Johnsons tied the knot at a private ceremony at Westminster Cathedral in May 2021.

Such was the secrecy surrounding the event that guests were said to have been invited at the eleventh-hour, while some senior members of Mr Johnson’s staff were unaware of the wedding until after it took place.

Lockdown rules had recently been relaxed, meaning up to 30 people could attend.

The newlyweds celebrated in the Downing Street garden but they were sanguine about the scaled-down nature of the event because even then, planning for the Chequers party was well under way.

Save the date cards had already been sent out to friends and family. This would be the time to properly celebrate, they were promised. This would be the real party.

Sources insisted at the time that Mr Johnson would cover the cost of any party at Chequers.

The Elizabethan manor at the foot of the Chiltern Hills has been the grace-and-favour residence of the Prime Minister since the 1920s and is a firm favourite with the Johnsons.

The couple could not possibly have predicted his dramatic demise, let alone that once-loyal MPs would call for his scalp with such unfortunate timing.

Sources insist that the couple are determined to go ahead with the long-planned celebration.

Critics claimed that the bash was the reason Mr Johnson had insisted on remaining as caretaker Prime Minister until the autumn.

If he left office immediately, he would be forced to cancel the glamorous affair as Chequers would not be available to him.

One Conservative source told the Mirror: “It beggars belief that even after all the criticism Johnson has faced regarding integrity and probity, one of the reasons he is staying is to have his wedding party at Chequers.

“It’s a national asset, not his personal home. The Johnsons should do the decent thing and find a different venue. And Boris should do the decent thing and leave No 10 immediately”.

A second source added: “It’s crass if it goes ahead.”

But allies rubbished the claims, insisting he had agreed to stay on out of a sense of duty. His decision had nothing to do with the wedding party, they argued.

A No 10 spokesman said: “The PM has a strong sense of duty and will continue to serve his country until a new leader is in place, solely to continue his obligation to the public.”

Mr and Mrs Johnson are said to have become engaged while on holiday in Mustique in December 2019, following the Conservatives’ landslide election victory.

The then Ms Symonds announced the news on social media in February 2020, at the same time disclosing that she was pregnant.

Questions about how the couple would foot the bill for the celebration began to circulate in Westminster almost immediately, following reports about Mr Johnson’s alleged financial issues.

One Tory MP remarked: “It will take the PM at least over a year to save up for the wedding.”

Chequers boasts a heated indoor swimming pool in the Orangery, a putting green and extensive 1,500-acre lawns.

It was donated to the nation in 1917 by Lord and Lady Lee of Fareham as a “place of rest and recreation for prime ministers” because those coming to power increasingly lacked their own country estates.

It was built in 1565 and costs taxpayers almost £1 million a year.

The Chequers Trust received a £916,000 “grant in aid” from the Cabinet Office in 2020-21 – up from £882,000 last year and £879,000 the year before.

The Grade I-listed manor has walled gardens, a vast art collection and a half-kilometre driveway through a valley, lined by beech trees donated by Winston Churchill.

The planned wedding party is not the first time the Johnsons’ links with Chequers have proved controversial.

In March 2020, it was alleged that the then Ms Symonds travelled between the country retreat and No 10 despite strict lockdown rules.

The couple were also accused of hosting a baby shower there, six weeks before the birth of their son Wilfred and just days before Mr Johnson banned non-essential contact with others and all non-essential travel.

Meanwhile, the retreat’s top housekeeper is said to have quit in 2020, just six months after Mr Johnson was elected, amid claims of a clash with Mrs Johnson.

Charlotte Vine reportedly received a payoff after signing a non-disclosure agreement. Sources alleged there had been broader tensions between the PM and his wife, and the Chequers staff.

One told the Mirror: “It was chaos, ‘Can we come now?’ or ‘We’re coming tomorrow’.

“They were told they couldn’t because there were no staff.”

A spokesman for Mrs Johnson insisted there was no dispute.