Carrie Symonds defended over 'sexist fabrication' that she tried to get minister fired

A government minister was on Sunday forced to deny that Carrie Symonds had pressured her fiance Boris Johnson to sack the Environment Secretary because she disagrees with his views.

Lord Goldsmith, a close friend of Ms Symonds, said claims she tried to have George Eustice removed over his record on animal rights were "fabrications" borne of "1950s sexism".

Ms Symonds, 33, is now at the centre of a major row between the Prime Minister and his former chief adviser Dominic Cummings, who named her in an explosive blog post on Friday night.

Mr Cummings claimed Mr Johnson considered halting a leak inquiry because a friend of Ms Symonds had been identified as the culprit and he did not want to upset her.

The latest dispute between "Team Carrie" and "Team Dom" has led to new claims about Ms Symonds' alleged influence on government policy, including the suggestion that she asked Mr Johnson to sack Mr Eustice because he was "too close to the farmers and insufficiently robust on her cherished animal welfare issues".

Ms Symonds is a committed environmentalist and director of communications at charity the Aspinall Foundation.

She has previously been credited with pushing the Government to introduce regulations on plastic bags and other single-use plastics which can end up in the sea and harm wildlife. Since Mr Johnson took power, the Government has also taken action against rhino horn exports, an issue on which Ms Symonds has campaigned, and cancelled a planned badger cull.

Mr Eustice is from a six-generation farming background and previously worked on his family's farm in Cornwall. The National Farmers' Union opposed the cancellation of the badger cull.

The claim Ms Symonds had attempted to have Mr Eustice fired was dismissed by Lord Goldsmith, a Tory peer and junior environment minister, as "the opposite of the truth". He said a newspaper had "completely fabricate[d] a bunch of stories about someone, and then use[d] those fabrications to pour hate and bile on them".

Sources close to Mr Eustice declined to comment on the story. A Cabinet reshuffle is expected later this year, and could see him moved elsewhere or relegated to the back benches.

Ms Symonds was also defended by Caroline Nokes, who chairs Parliament's women and equalities committee, who said on Sunday night that she had been the victim of "vile spite" and "jealousy" as a "competent, clever, attractive woman".

Allies of Ms Symonds said Mr Cummings' attacks on her were "sexism", adding that the former adviser referred to Ms Symonds in his blog post as the Prime Minister's girlfriend rather than his fiancee in an attempt "to try and to make her look like some silly little girl".

The friends also denied reports that Mr Symonds had fallen out with Allegra Stratton, Mr Johnson's press secretary, describing the claims as "fabrication". It had been reported that it was Ms Symonds who masterminded Ms Stratton's demotion from Downing Street press secretary to spokeswoman for COP26, the climate conference to be hosted by the UK later this year.

Ms Symonds' detractors argue that she has unacceptably high levels of unofficial access to government policy and point to her well-placed allies as evidence of her power. After a decade-long career in government and the Conservative Party she is close friends with Baroness Finn, Mr Johnson's deputy chief of staff, and Henry Neman, a senior Number 10 adviser.

Lord Goldsmith and Ms Symonds previously worked together on his London mayoral campaign, and she was pictured campaigning for him in the 2019 election.

Mr Cummings' blog post accused Mr Johnson of attempting to quash the "chatty rat" leak inquiry out of concern that it would implicate Mr Newman.

He claimed that after the Cabinet Secretary revealed that "all the evidence definitely leads to Henry Newman and others in that office", Mr Johnson had suggested shutting down the investigation to avoid causing "very serious problems with Carrie as they're best friends".

Ms Symonds once reportedly described Mr Newman as one of her "favourite people", and photos show the pair campaigning together on the doorstep. Mr Newman denies the leaking allegation, and Downing Street said Mr Johnson "has never interfered in a government leak inquiry".

The blog followed briefings from Downing Street sources on Thursday that Mr Cummings was the "chatty rat" leaker – a claim he denies. Officials also suggested he may have leaked text messages between Mr Johnson and James Dyson about the supply of ventilators last year, which the Labour Party seized on as evidence of "sleaze" and "cronyism".

The former adviser said he does not have the text messages that were leaked but said they had been shared with various officials by the Prime Minister at the time.

An inquiry into the source of the leaks is ongoing, and officials say no one has yet been exonerated.

Mr Cummings is already scheduled to appear in front of a joint committee of MPs investigating the Government’s response to coronavirus next month, but has said he is happy to surrender all his communications while in government for scrutiny.

Downing Street is thought to be "terrified" at the prospect of further revelations about the Government's initial response to the Covid crisis.