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Boris and Carrie Johnson ‘to hold wedding party at donor’s country house’

JCB boss Bamford has given more than £10m to Conservatives

Andrew Woodcock
Political Editor
Wednesday 27 July 2022 14:05 BST
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Boris Johnson poses with his wife Carrie Johnson in the garden of 10 Downing Street following their wedding at Westminster Cathedral on May 29, 2021
Boris Johnson poses with his wife Carrie Johnson in the garden of 10 Downing Street following their wedding at Westminster Cathedral on May 29, 2021 (Downing Street via Getty Images)

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Boris Johnson and wife Carrie are to hold a delayed wedding party at a billionaire Tory donor’s country house this weekend, it has been reported.

The prime minister had to cancel plans to hold the lavish bash at his official country residence Chequers after allegations he was using the event to delay his departure from office.

But now The Mirror reports that JCB chairman Lord Bamford has stepped in to offer use of his Grade I listed home Daylesford House in the Cotswolds.

Lord Bamford, who backed Mr Johnson’s leadership bid in 2019, has given more than £10m in donations and gifts to the Conservatives since 2001.

And Mr Johnson has regularly mentioned the construction equipment firm in speeches and events, and visited its Gurajat plant during a visit to India earlier this year.

He famously crashed a digger displaying the words Get Brexit Done through a wall of fake bricks marked Gridlock during a visit to a JCB factory during the 2019 general election campaign.

And he received £10,000 from the company shortly before delivering an address at its HQ while a backbencher after his resignation as foreign secretary.

Mr and Mrs Johnson are understood to have organised a marquee in the 1,500-acre grounds of Bamford house.

The couple married secretly at Westminster Cathedral in May 2021, with only a handful of guests attended. And Covid rules restricted to 30 the number joining them to celebrate in the Downing Street gardens afterwards.

A No10 spokesman said: "We do not comment on speculation regarding private or family matters which do not involve any ministerial declarations or taxpayer funds."

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