Boris Johnson's excuse to nanny after she was 'sacked by Carrie'

1184     0
Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson's excuse to nanny after she was 'sacked by Carrie'

A nanny sacked by Boris Johnson's wife Carrie claims the ex-PM put the decision down to her being "hormonal" having just given birth.

Theresa Dawes says Carrie gave her 15 minutes to pack her bags and leave, just three days into starting the job, after joining former Tory leader Boris for a glass of wine. She told the Mirror she was dismissed 36 hours after she enjoyed a single chilled rosé with the ex-PM to “wet the head” of baby Frank Alfred Odysseus. Carrie was still recovering in hospital – but, says Theresa, despite them initially getting on, the mum-of-three dismissed her when she returned home.

Theresa said two weeks before, during her interview, she'd said her previous family had disliked Boris due to Partygate - and claims this was used as an excuse by Carrie when firing her. She also allegedly said they didn't "gel". But Boris is said to have seen things differently.

Theresa said: “She told me she’d called an Uber and I had 15 minutes to go. I was gobsmacked. I went to find Boris in the kitchen. I said, ‘I’m so sorry if I offended you’. He didn’t know what to do. He said, ‘I don’t know what to say, she’s hormonal, she’s just had a baby, it’s out of my control’. She’d obviously told him what I’d said two weeks ago. I think she’s used that as an excuse. I think it’s all because I had a glass of wine with him and she didn’t like that.”

Boris Johnson's excuse to nanny after she was 'sacked by Carrie' eiqeeiqrkiqueinvTheresa Dawes says Carrie gave her 15 minutes to pack her bags and leave (Andy Stenning/Sunday Mirror)

Now Theresa says she is considering legal action to get thousands of pounds she says she is owed for an agreed three-month contract – plus severance pay. The Johnsons deny Theresa’s claims.

Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge himBaby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him

Boris has earned millions from speaking engagements since leaving No10 last year and as an ex-PM is entitled to an annual allowance of £115,000. Theresa, 59, insisted nothing flirty happened with the ladies’ man – and their conversation didn’t stray beyond the politics of her native Zimbabwe.

Boris Johnson's excuse to nanny after she was 'sacked by Carrie'Carrie and Boris Johnson hired Theresa in the summer (Getty Images)

She said: “I know he’s had three wives, however many kids. But I’m not interested, he’s not my type. I don’t know if she felt threatened. I don’t know what she was thinking. “I was looking forward to helping out a family with their new arrival but I got caught in the middle of something else.

“I’d only been there for three days and I didn’t even get to hold the baby. I wish I’d never got involved with them, it’s been a complete nightmare. To be fair, it was quite a nice rosé but it definitely wasn’t worth it.” Theresa says the only time she could have put a foot wrong was when she met Carrie two weeks earlier and mentioned that a former employer had celebrated Boris’s demise in the Partygate scandal.

Boris Johnson's excuse to nanny after she was 'sacked by Carrie'Theresa was hired to work at Brightwell Manor (Geoffrey Swaine/REX/Shutterstock)

But she believes the real reason she got sacked was that Carrie’s mum Josephine witnessed the tipple with Boris. Mum-of-two Theresa flew almost 8,000 miles from her home in Harare to take up the post at Brightwell Manor, the Johnsons’ mansion in Oxfordshire.

Carrie had Frank, the couple’s third child, on July 5 – and Theresa arrived to start work two days later. She said: “It was a lovely, hot day and when Boris got home he went out on to the terrace and opened a bottle of wine. He asked me to join him, to toast baby Frank and to give me a report on Carrie and the baby, how they were doing, when they were coming home, that sort of thing.

Boris Johnson's excuse to nanny after she was 'sacked by Carrie'Carrie allegedly sacked Theresa days after giving birth (David Fisher/REX/Shutterstock)

“We started chatting and got on pretty well. He said he’d been to Zimbabwe and was talking about politics, the declaration of independence and other things. Then we found out we were born a few days apart. We went for a little walk and he called the other children, Wilfred and Romy, over to meet me. He showed me where they plan to put the swimming pool, then said if I got too hot I could always go for a swim in the moat.

“I thought I bonded really well with Boris, but there was a very cold feeling from Carrie’s mum. I don’t know what she was thinking.” The following afternoon Carrie returned home and, Theresa claims, the mood changed dramatically. She says: “Carrie was extremely rude. I was waiting to welcome her and she just walked past saying, ‘Where’s my mum’.

“Then she went upstairs with all the children. I went to make a cup of tea and Boris came in like a whirlwind, flustered.” Theresa said she helped Boris make a cocktail for Carrie and took a tray of glasses outside. She went on: “Carrie swanned down holding the baby. She didn’t ask me to sit down but Boris did. I think he could sense something was up.

Boris Johnson's excuse to nanny after she was 'sacked by Carrie'Carrie with children Wilf and Romy

"I think he knew she was going to dismiss me and he didn’t know what to do. The other nanny was there with the other children. He asked me to wet the baby’s head, but I said, ‘No thank-you’.” Theresa says she went to bed – but received a message from Carrie asking to meet her at 11am the next day.

She says: “I walked into the nursery and she was holding the baby. She stood up and told me she didn’t think it was working and that we didn’t gel. She said she didn’t like the comments I’d made about her husband, when I’d told her about the other family that didn’t like him. I think that was an excuse. If she didn’t like it, why didn’t she do something two weeks earlier?"

Tragedy as 13-month-old boy dies after the stolen car he was in crashedTragedy as 13-month-old boy dies after the stolen car he was in crashed

Theresa says she received six days’ money but her contract states she is entitled to be paid “for the entire/agreed booking”. She said the agency she got the job through implied she shouldn’t have socialised with Boris. Theresa, who claims Carrie has blocked her on WhatsApp, added: “They let slip that they didn’t think I should have had a drink with Boris.

"It all made sense – I’m certain that’s the reason. The longer time has gone on, the more angry I have become that they feel they can treat people like this. I paid for my own flights so I was thousands of pounds out of pocket. I just want them to pay me what I’m contractually owed so we can all move on.”

A spokesman for the Johnson family said: “This account is totally untrue. It is disappointing to see someone who sought a position of trust abuse it to create a completely false story for financial gain.” The agency did not respond to requests for comment. Boris quit as an MP in June after an inquiry found he had misled parliament over lockdown parties in Downing Street.

Phil Cardy

Print page

Comments:

comments powered by Disqus