Boris Johnson’s sister and dad had an “enormous” row while he was battling Covid-19 in hospital, a new biography claims.
In The Gambler, journalist Tom Bower claims sister Rachel decided to call the Prime Minister’s ex-wife Marina Wheeler when it became clear how serious his condition was.
But the 55-year-old had no signal at her rural home in Exmoor, Devon, so she went to dad Stanley’s house next door to use his landline.
And because the 80-year-old feared she could be infected with Covid due to her visits to London, he at first refused her entry.
Mr Bower writes: “An enormous argument erupted about Rachel entering the house. Her trips to London, she was told, risked importing the infection. She should stay away from Stanley’s house.
“Eventually, reason prevailed. Marina was given the news.”
The book claims Marina, 56, had refused to speak to Stanley since seeing him chatting to the PM’s new love Carrie Symonds, 32, during the Tory conference.
And it adds that despite having refused to see him for over a year because of his treatment of their mother, some of their four children went with Marina to visit him in St Thomas’s Hospital, Central London.
It is claimed they had been told he was so ill they might not be able to see him again.
Mr Johnson self-isolated after his diagnosis and was went to hospital on April 5. Doctors said had he arrived later, he might have died.
Mr Bower writes: “Some of [their] children, still estranged from their father, went to the hospital.”
The biography also reveals how Mr Johnson’s mother Charlotte, 78, was the only family member to stand by him in the early months of his premiership due to division over the UK’s split from the EU.
Brother Jo, 48, Rachel and Stanley are claimed to have disagreed with how he used Brexit to seize power.
Remainer Stanley was an MEP, Jo last year quit as a Tory MP and minister over Theresa May ’s deal and Rachel stood as a candidate for the anti-Brexit Change party.
In another extract, it emerged Mr Johnson was warned about his family trying to use his celebrity to further their own careers during his time as Mayor of London.
One adviser is quoted as saying he feared both Stanley and Rachel would “do anything to live off you”.
