I’m a firm adherent to the idea that there is progress in history. Things can change and they can do so for the better. Obviously this can be a rather broadbrush statement, where individual matters suggest differently.
My thanks to a trade union colleague for commenting on and hence drawing to my attention a Daily Mail story (22nd June) about Boris Johnson and Wilfred, the son he has had with partner Carrie.
Part of the story reads:
During a visit to Bovingdon Primary Academy in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, on Friday, the Prime Minister told well-wishers how he has been helping his fiancee Carrie Symonds look after their son.
Mr Johnson said Wilfred ‘is in great shape’, adding: ‘I’ve changed a lot of nappies, I want you to know.’
This didnt sound to me like very Johnsonian behaviour. He is not noted for his belief in the equality of parenting. I checked Sonia Purnell’s biography Just Boris for a reference to what Johnson did when he was married to Marina Wheeler, with whom he had four children.
She quotes a friend of Johnson’s sister Rachel, ‘she had four kids and worked full-time as a lawyer. with Boris never there…the answer is staff. Over the years they had a housekeeper, someone to help with the cleaning… plus a nanny or au pair.
Another source suggested that Johnson only ‘turned up for the jolly bits of parenting’.
One wonders if Johnson has made progress or if he is dissembling as usual..
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