LONDON: British police were called to the home of Boris Johnson, the favorite to be the next prime minister, after neighbors heard a loud altercation between him and his his girlfriend.
The police were called in the early hours of Friday to an address in south London where Johnson is living with his girlfriend, Carrie Symonds. Johnson is currently divorcing his second wife.
“The caller was concerned for the welfare of a female neighbor,” the police said in a statement issued on Friday evening. “Police attended and spoke to all occupants of the address, who were all safe and well.”
“There were no offenses or concerns apparent to the officers and there was no cause for police action,” the statement said.
A spokesman for Johnson declined repeated requests for comment. Symonds could not be reached for comment.
The Guardian newspaper, which first reported the story, said an unidentified neighbor had heard a woman screaming followed by “slamming and banging.” At one point Symonds could be heard telling Johnson to “get off me” and “get out of my flat.”
Despite a series of scandals in the past and criticism about his attention to detail, Brexit supporter Johnson has dominated the race to replace Prime Minister Theresa May.
After a series of ballots to whittle down the race to two candidates, 160,000 Conservative Party members will now chose either Johnson and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt as their next leader — and thus the next prime minister.
A neighbor of Johnson told the Guardian newspaper that they had recorded the altercation from inside their flat out of concern for Symonds.
The Guardian said it had reviewed the recording and that Johnson could be heard refusing to leave the flat and using a swear word to tell Symonds to get off his laptop. Crashing sounds can also be heard, the newspaper said.
Reuters has not reviewed the audio.
Symonds is heard saying Johnson had ruined a sofa with red wine, according to the Guardian’s account.
“You just don’t care for anything because you’re spoilt. You have no care for money or anything,” Symonds is quoted as saying by the newspaper.
Another neighbor interviewed by the BBC confirmed the argument and said she had heard a woman shouting.
Johnson, 55, who served as London mayor for eight years, has cast himself as the only candidate who can deliver Brexit on Oct. 31 while fighting off the electoral threats of Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour.
British police called to home of PM candidate Boris Johnson after altercation
British police called to home of PM candidate Boris Johnson after altercation
- The Guardian newspaper, which first reported the story, said an unidentified neighbor had heard a woman screaming followed by “slamming and banging”
- A spokesman for Johnson declined repeated requests for comment
Drone-backed militants attack Nigerian army base, several soldiers dead
- The militants struck the Sabon Gari base before dawn
- The army regained control after reinforcements arrived
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria: Islamist militants backed by armed drones raided an army base in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state, killing several troops in the early hours of Thursday, the military said, in the second assault reported there this week.
The use of drones by the fighters from Daesh West Africa Province (Daesh-WAP) in recent attacks has marked a significant escalation in the violence in the region, military spokesman Lt. Col. Sani Uba said.
The militants struck the Sabon Gari base before dawn, storming the perimeter and briefly breaching part of the facility, Uba said.
While they were fighting, their drone bombardment destroyed several military vehicles, including an excavator and a low-bed trailer, he added.
The army regained control after reinforcements arrived, repelled the attack and were pursuing the militants, Uba said.
Some soldiers and Civilian Joint Task Force members “paid the supreme price,” he said, without giving details on the numbers.
Two security sources told Reuters at least nine soldiers and two task force members were killed, with around 16 others wounded.
Nigeria’s military has pushed deeper into insurgent strongholds in the northeast this year as part of a renewed offensive against militant groups.
But despite repeated operations, Boko Haram and its splinter faction Daesh-WAP continue to mount large-scale attacks, exploiting difficult terrain, porous borders and a weak state presence across parts of the arid northeast. Borno, where Boko Haram and Daesh-WAP fighters have intensified attacks on military convoys and civilians, remains the epicenter of the 17-year Islamist insurgency.
