Carrie Symonds supports MP Tracey Crouch through cancer battle, the politician reveals 

MP Tracey Crouch has hit back at ‘fake and sexist’ rumours Boris Johnson‘s partner Carrie Symonds acts like Lady Macbeth now that she is living in Downing Street.

It emerged last week that society bible Tatler is featuring an explosive profile charting the ‘rise and rise’ of Miss Symonds this month, who is described as the ‘most powerful woman in Britain’ and questioning if she is a ‘scheming Lady Macbeth’.

Tracey, 44, who represents Chatham and Aylesford constituency in Kent, slammed the suggestions, telling The Times: ‘I think it’s a bit sexist. I also think it’s really rude to Boris; it’s really patronising. The idea that somehow we say something and our other half immediately goes off and does it doesn’t happen in real life.’

Meanwhile the politician, who was diagnosed with cancer in June, said Carrie had been hugely supportive of her cancer battle and ‘made a point of remembering all her treatment dates and sending a message’. 

The friends met  when they worked together at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport where Carrie was then the special adviser to the culture secretary at the time, John Whittingdale. 

Tracey recalled bonding with Carrie over their dislike of hunting, and said they would ‘gang up’ on Whittingdale about the issue. 

She said the two became so close that Carrie knew she had found a lump and was going to a clinic to have it checked, with the 32-year-old sending her a jar of manuka honey after the diagnosis.  

It is made from the flowers of the manuka bush (Leptospermum scoparium) found only in New Zealand and contains ingredients that scientists believe boost its antibacterial properties, 

Tracey also revealed how the Prime Minister ‘left voice messages’, while explaining: ‘Before chemotherapy started in August, we went over for tea with them at Chequers. They were chilled and relaxed.’ 

The politician said that after her final radiotherapy session, Carrie texted, ‘You did it’ with a gold star emoji.  

The MP also fought back on rumours Carrie acts like Anne Boleyn now that she is living in Downing Street, calling the reports ‘fake’.

Days ago, one of Miss Symonds’s former colleagues claimed she has effectively become Boris Johnson’s Downing Street chief of staff.

Miss Symonds’s ‘unelected and unaccountable’ role in Government is ‘damaging to democracy,’ according to Nic Conner, who worked with Miss Symonds on the Brexit campaign.

He told the Daily Mail that he has no grudge against the former director of Tory communications and was not being sexist, but is concerned she is acting unconstitutionally as friends are hired and rivals fired inside No 10.

Mr Conner said: ‘In light of my experience working with Carrie Symonds, I am deeply concerned that she should have any role in governing the country without authority or accountability. 

‘Anyone holding so much unelected power, and who cannot be removed, is not only unconstitutional but is damaging to British democracy.’ 

Mr Conner’s comments came after the conservative think tank, the Bow Group – of which he is a research fellow – called for an independent inquiry into the role of Miss Symonds within government.

Bow Group chairman Ben Harris-Quinney added: ‘No romantic partner of the PM has ever involved themselves to this degree. It’s completely unjustifiable in a modern democracy, and calling me or the Bow Group sexist doesn’t change that.’

The Bow Group wants an inquiry into Miss Symonds’s alleged role in pushing out key Downing Street advisers. It also claims she was instrumental in appointing her close friend Nimco Ali as a Home Office adviser, and recruiting other allies to Downing Street.

Mr Harris-Quinney said: ‘Failure to clarify Ms Symonds’ position and authority, and to ensure that Ms Symonds is not and cannot take any action in governing the United Kingdom, potentially has huge hazards for the Government, the Conservative Party, and the nation. The public take a very dim view of cronyism, democracy in Britain is and must always be sacred, and no one should be involved in running our country without accountability to the people.’

The most prominent casualty of Miss Symond’s alleged influence was Mr Johnson’s right-hand man Dominic Cummings, who left in November after clashing with her.

Mr Cummings’s ally, communications chief Lee Cain, soon followed him out of the door amid claims that Miss Symonds was calling the PM 20 times a day, and had been nicknamed ‘Princess Nut Nut’ by her detractors. 

In their place, a new group has grown in Downing Street consisting of allies of Miss Symonds and Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove. 

These include her friends Henry Newman and Baroness Finn. Brexit negotiator Lord Frost, who was close to Mr Cummings, is thought to have tried to quit in protest at their arrival but was persuaded to stay and has been rewarded with a place in Cabinet. Fresh battles became public on Friday when Oliver Lewis, another Cummings supporter, resigned as head of the Union Unit.

It was claimed that he had been briefing against Mr Gove and had been forced out as a result. But in a weekend of briefing and counter-briefing, it was also claimed Mr Gove had masterminded Mr Lewis’s departure over fears he was being sidelined by the PM.

Meanwhile Miss Symonds has been appointed head of communications at conservation charity the Aspinall Foundation, which is run by gambling tycoon Damian Aspinall. Earlier this month it was revealed that the organisation is being investigated by the Charity Commission amid concerns about what it calls ‘financial management and wider governance’.

A spokesman for Miss Symonds declined to comment on the allegations against her at the time they were originally published in the Daily Mail.