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Who is alleged ‘chatty rat’ Henry Newman?
A FRIEND of Boris Johnson’s fiancee has been accused of being the “chatty rat” who leaked plans for a second covid lockdown.
Henry Newman, a close pal of , has been accused of leaking slurs of "let the bodies pile high" allegedly made by the PM by former aide . But what do we know about special adviser Newman?
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Who is special adviser Henry Newman?
Over the past years, Henry Newman has risen steadily through the ranks of Tory special advisers.
He begun working in Whitehall during the coalition years under David Cameron.
A former protege of Michael Gove, Newman previously worked on Dominic Cummings’ Vote Leave campaign in the run-up to the Brexit referendum.
He went on to work closely with Gove, joining the cabinet minister at the Ministry of Justice in 2015.
Newman was reportedly among those who encouraged Gove to tank Johnson’s leadership bid by running himself.
And under former PM Theresa May, Newman joined the pro-Brexit thinktank Open Europe, becoming an influential supporter of her controversial Brexit plan.
And after secured election victory in 2019, Newman rejoined Gove in the Cabinet Office, where he was leading the preparations for Brexit.
He was then promoted to senior adviser to Johnson in No10 in February 2021.
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What has Henry Newman been accused of doing?
Newman has been accused of being a “chatty rat”.
He has been blamed for leaking plans for a second coronavirus lockdown by the PM's former top aide, Cummings.
Cummings has denied being the source of the leak but in a blog published on Friday he suggested the move might have been illegal.
And he accused the PM of falling “far below the standards of competence and integrity the country deserves”.
The axed former aide was also suspected of being behind claims that Boris Johnson made a sick slur about the Covid death toll — dismissed as “total rubbish”.
In an explosive attack on the Prime Minister, Mr Cummings said Henry Newman, a special adviser, had been identified as the likely culprit.
Mr Cummings claimed Mr Johnson had been so alarmed when he was told, he wanted the inquiry into the leak halted as he would have “very serious problems” with Ms Symonds if it resulted in Mr Newman being fired.
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No10 denied the accusations, stating on Friday, April 23, 2021: “The PM has never interfered in a government leak inquiry.”
Mr Johnson has denied the claims made against him.
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How do Carrie Symonds and Henry Newman know each other?
It is claimed Newman is one of Symonds' best friends.
Described by Symonds as one of her “favourite people”, in February he was appointed a senior adviser to the Prime Minister.
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He has previously been pictured with Ms Symonds holding her and Mr Johnson’s dog Dilyn and wearing a "Get Brexit Done" beanie.
In the past, Carrie has tagged him in a group photograph of Tory canvassers on Twitter, writing he was one of her “four favourite people”.
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