Mandrake is definitely not one to gossip, so in terms of the rumours now circulating about Carrie Johnson, my line is least said, soonest mended.
That would not, alas, appear to be the approach of Dominic Cummings, whose clashes with the toothsome “first lady” precipitated his departure from Downing Street. “Nothing would surprise me,” he told UnHerd. “She can’t be happy with the situation now. Obviously, it’s all blowing up in her face. And then there’s all of his money stuff.”
With regards to the “money stuff”, Carrie’s husband may well soon have to return the first tranche of the £500,000 advance he accepted from Hodder & Stoughton to write a biography of Shakespeare.
His publishers have been waiting for it since 2015 and there has to be a limit to their patience. But perhaps he will soon have time on his hands…
