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BORIS AND THE BLONDE
Boris Johnson wined and dined blonde Tory aide at the centre of marriage split on Valentine’s Day
A BLONDE Tory aide wined and dined by Boris Johnson on Valentine’s Day was last night at the centre of his marriage split.
Rumours of a fling came as Bojo, 54, confirmed he and wife Marina were divorcing. The Sun revealed that they had split amid cheat claims.
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Diners were stunned to see Boris Johnson march into a restaurant at lunchtime on Valentine’s Day with a glamorous aide while Foreign Secretary.
MPs were sitting in the Commons and Johnson, 54 — at the centre of a Brexit storm — was supposed to be working.
Instead he headed to a cosy corner of the exclusive London restaurant with the young blonde woman — and spent the next two hours there.
As Johnson wined and dined the attractive Tory aide, a pair of “peeved” bodyguards sat nearby.
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Hours earlier, Johnson had been forced to rule out resigning as Foreign Secretary as he delivered his vision of the “Road to Brexit”.
Another Valentine’s Day diner at Rules in Covent Garden, which is London’s oldest restaurant, said: “Boris was in the news at the time. So it was quite the shock to see him walking into the restaurant with an attractive blonde.
“Two police protection officers sat in chairs close to the front door of the restaurant.
“They were not eating and looked pretty peeved to be there. Boris and the blonde sat in a cosy corner table and appeared to be drinking from wine glasses.
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Boris Johnson leaves home after announcing divorce from wife Marina Wheeler after 25 years of marriage
“It seemed quite an intimate meal and hardly anything to do with any great matters of the state.
“It was quite a strange day to be meeting a young attractive woman for a meal in one of London’s most exclusive restaurants.”
Rumours of a fling between Johnson and the blonde aide gripped Westminster as The Sun’s revelations about him were confirmed.
We told yesterday how Johnson’s long-suffering wife Marina Wheeler, 54, had booted him out for cheating on her again.
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In a short statement, the couple announced they were getting a divorce after 25 years and had split “several months ago”.
They said divorce proceedings were “under way”.
The split was believed to have taken place just weeks before Johnson quit as Foreign Secretary over Brexit in July.
Insiders said his fling with the aide had been an “open secret” among some government advisers and No10 staff.
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Former Cabinet colleagues were understood to have openly speculated about whether the pair were having an affair — but at the time it was strenuously denied.
One insider said: “Rumours about the two of them have been rife for some time.
“I think they may have only got together fairly recently.
“We were waiting for the news about Boris and Marina to break as I think the divorce papers were going to be served before party conference. But The Sun’s story took everyone by surprise.”
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In a joint personal statement to the Press Association, the couple — who have four children — said: “After 25 years of marriage, we decided it was in our best interests to separate.
“We have subsequently agreed to divorce and that process is under way.
“As friends we will continue to support our four children in the years ahead. We will not be commenting further.”
The split sparked immediate claims that it could devastate Johnson’s chances for the Tory Party leadership.
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One unnamed ally suggested it was in Johnson’s “interests to get this news out there” now so it will not be used by his enemies at the height of any leadership contest.
But a close pal yesterday dismissed that as “b******s”, saying: “This is the last thing he wants out there.”
We revealed yesterday that Johnson’s daughter Lara had stunned close pals at a party by saying her mum Marina “will never take him back” after accusing him of cheating on her again.
The fashion journalist, 25, is said to have told friends that her dad is a “selfish bastard”. And she insisted to one: “Mum is finished with him. She will never take him back now.”
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Johnson’s marriage to Marina has been rocked several times by his affairs with other women.
She threw him out in 2004 over his affair with writer Petronella Wyatt, and again in 2010 when he was suspected of having a child with art consultant Helen Macintyre.
But Marina — mother to Lara, Milo Arthur, 23, Cassia Peaches, 21, and Theodore Apollo, 19 — always eventually took him back.
Rumours of a split began to swirl this time after Marina failed to attend a family party for Cassia’s birthday.
Marina was spotted leaving her husband’s ministerial grace-and-favour mansion at Carlton Gardens in central London following his resignation as Foreign Secretary in July.
But one family friend said yesterday: “The split came before that.
“She was round there to discuss how she was going to take her things.”
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Johnson was yesterday spotted leaving his family home in Oxfordshire.
He is due to address a 1,000-person Brexit rally at the party conference at the end of the month.
Neither Mr Johnson nor the Tory aide returned calls yesterday.
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