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The marquee is up: Boris and Carrie Johnson have made up for their wedding party
Photo: Steve Parsons / picture alliance / empics
Boris Johnson actually wanted to celebrate his wedding at the Checkers country estate, but his planned resignation as Prime Minister of Great Britain got in the way.
So a new location had to be found within a few weeks.
And Johnson wouldn't be Johnson if he couldn't do it quickly: Thanks to the help of a wealthy patron, "BoJo" and Carrie Johnson were now able to celebrate the party on the estate of the listed country house "Daylesford House".
Photos showed a huge party tent on the site, next to which bales of hay invited people to relax.
The house itself is built in Georgian style and has an orangery and spacious parking areas.
Set in scenic Cotswold countryside near the village of Stow-on-the-Wold in south-west England, it is owned by billionaire entrepreneur Anthony Bamford - a major donor to Johnson's Conservative Party.
Now knighted and a Member of the House of Lords, Lord Bamford has given the Tories a total of £14m in support since 2001.
Boris and Carrie Johnson had already married at the end of May 2021 in the Catholic London Westminster Cathedral.
Johnson is the first prime minister to marry while in office in almost 200 years.
Because of the corona rules, only 30 guests could attend at the time - so the couple wanted to catch up on the big celebration.
Photos from the day of the festival now showed Boris Johnson's father Stanley and his sister Rachael arriving at the property in cars.
Political celebrities were also represented: Johnson's closest allies in the cabinet, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries and Brexit Secretary of State Jacob Rees-Mogg attended, as did Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and other influential members of the Tories.
Johnson has had close ties to the property's owner, Lord Bamford, for years.
Unforgettable is how Johnson once broke through a styrofoam wall with the inscription “standstill” (gridlock) with an excavator from Bamford’s construction machinery manufacturer JCB, on the shovel of which was written “Get Brexit Done”.
Rumor has it that Lord Bamford also paid for part of the wedding.
This was reported by the newspaper "Mirror", citing an anonymous source.
The Telegraph newspaper wrote that Carrie Johnson worked closely with Bamford's wife in the preparations.
A South African-style barbecue was served to the approximately 200 guests, writes the Telegraph.
The menu would have featured grass-fed British braai boerewors rolls, masa and corn tortilla tacos, smoked barbacoa lamb "and what has been dubbed an 'ancient grain salad'."
The marquee at Daylesford House was only a short-term solution: the party was actually supposed to be in Checkers, the official country residence of the British Prime Minister.
But shortly after he announced his resignation for the autumn, it was said that Johnson just didn't want to step down as prime minister immediately so that he could still celebrate at Checkers.
When the criticism got too loud, the Johnsons looked for a new location - and found Lord Bamford's estate.
It's not the first time Johnson's close ties to wealthy patrons have raised eyebrows: in 2019, Johnson vacationed on the Caribbean island of Mustique, with entrepreneur David Ross reportedly paying the £15,000 bill.
The prime minister also used a Tory donor for the luxury renovation of his official residence in Downing Street – in which Carrie Johnson pushed through gold-colored wallpaper to the ridicule of many Britons.
Only after sharp public criticism did the prime minister repay tens of thousands of pounds that entrepreneur David Brownlow had interim financed.
In any case, Johnson was puzzled by the accusations that he was confusing private life and politics.
(Read more about Johnson's biggest scandals here.)
His confidants also rejected criticism of the wedding reception at the Bamford estate.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who is currently running to succeed Johnson and was therefore absent from the party, dismissed allegations that the prime minister was spending heavily at a time when skyrocketing living costs were threatening many Britons.
"I think he has the right to enjoy his anniversary and I wish him, Carrie and the whole family the best," Truss said on the sidelines of a campaign appearance.
Marriage to Carrie is Johnson's third.
He was first married to Allegra Mostyn-Owen, then to attorney Marina Wheeler, with whom he has four children, now grown.
The couple divorced in February 2020, when the prime minister was already dating Carrie, his party's former spokeswoman.
It is also known that Johnson is the father of an illegitimate daughter who was born in 2009.
kko/dpa
