Carrie Johnson and the pitfalls of being the PM’s spouse

Carrie is a providing a public service, if you think about it, writes Sean O’Grady

Prime minister Boris Johnson is joined by his wife Carrie on stage after delivering his keynote speech at the 2021 Conservative Party conference in Manchester (PA)

Like a few other high-profile roles in public life – Prince of Wales, Olympic gold medal winner, stand-up comedian – there isn’t much of a job description for the role of prime-ministerial spouse.

Hence, misunderstandings and controversies have enveloped Carrie Johnson since she took up with the prime minister a couple of years ago. It’s fair to say that few other partners have faced the same sort of intense scrutiny and criticism, with its strains of misogyny – but it is not unprecedented.

Interestingly, the last spouse to be bullied and abused to anything like the same extent as Ms Johnson was Cherie Blair.