Why Nigel Adams peerage veto is blow for Carrie Johnson too

The ex-PM’s wife had political and social links to the former minister – including a day trip to the races – before she started her relationship with Boris, writes Simon Walters

Carrie Johnson and Nigel Adams at Cheltenham Racecourse (Carrie Johnson/Instagram)

Boris Johnson is not the only member of his family who will be dismayed by the decision to block a peerage for ex-Tory minister Nigel Adams.

Mr Adams’s friend Carrie Johnson is likely to be disappointed too.

Her links to Mr Adams, 56, who resigned as MP for Selby and Ainsby in North Yorkshire after having his peerage vetoed, date back to before she and Mr Johnson became an item.

They were previously photographed together at Cheltenham Racecourse.

And when Mr Johnson was forced to resign last year, Mr Adams publicly offered her a comforting hand when the former prime minister’s friends, family and colleagues gathered for his Downing Street farewell.

Few MPs have been more loyal to Mr Johnson than caretaker’s son Mr Adams. He was part of the small group of “Boris cronies” who fought to keep him in power until the end.

Ironically, Mr Adams was blamed by some Conservatives for inadvertently triggering Mr Johnson’s demise.

He was credited with persuading him to appoint Mr Adams’s friend and drinking partner, fellow Conservative MP Chris Pincher, as deputy chief whip in February last year.

The move backfired disastrously.

Carrie Johnson is comforted by Nigel Adams on the day Boris Johnson left Downing Street (AFP/Getty)

When it later emerged that Mr Pincher allegedly groped two men at a London club – and that Mr Johnson had promoted him despite having been told of similar claims in the past – it led to his No 10 downfall.

Few would question that low profile Mr Adams’s presence at Mr Johnson’s cabinet table as a Cabinet Office minister had more to do with his connections than his ability.

In a 13-year Commons career which included five ministerial posts, he has few significant political achievements to his name. It has not kept him out of the headlines, though.

Carrie Johnson and Nigel Adams at Cheltenham Racecourse (Carrie Johnson Instagram)

Mr Adams has a long history with scandal-hit steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta.

Indian-born commodities trader Mr Gupta’s £20bn global empire was plunged into crisis, with a threat to thousands of British jobs, when financial services company Greensill Capital collapsed two years ago.

It led to an investigation by the SFO into Mr Gupta’s business – the Gupta Family Group Alliance (GFG) – over suspected fraud and money laundering. GFG has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

Mr Adams had played a key role in smoothing Mr Gupta’s entry into the world of politics. In 2015 Mr Gupta attended a Tory party clay pigeon shoot in Yorkshire hosted by Mr Adams. He introduced Mr Gupta to Mr Johnson later that year at a private dinner in Westminster.

Mr Gupta attended the Conservative Black and White Ball with Mr Adams in 2016.

He also sponsored the parliamentary cricket team tour to Australia for the 2017-18 Ashes. Keen cricketer Mr Adams was on the tour.

Mr Adams has benefited from more than £30,000 in hospitality and donations from Mr Gupta, including business class flights to Dubai and three days on a luxury yacht. Mr Adams has said that all donations have been correctly declared. It is understood that no donations went to Mr Adams personally.

Mr Adams, Mr Johnson and Mr Gupta are also linked through some of the staff they have employed.

A Westminster lobbyist who worked for one of Mr Gupta’s companies worked as an aide to Mr Johnson in his 2019 leadership campaign. Malin Baker Bogue was recommended for the post by Mr Adams. Ms Baker Bogue, who has close links to the US Republican Party, also worked as a Commons aide to Mr Adams.

Outgoing MP Nigel Adams said he will campaign for his replacement in the by-election he triggered (PA Archive)

In 2015, Mr Adams voted against plans to introduce plain cigarette packaging, having previously accepted more than £1,000 in hospitality from Japan Tobacco International at the Chelsea Flower Show.

In 2017, Mr Adams was ordered to apologise to parliament after the Commons Committee on Standards ruled that he had breached the MPs’ code of conduct by failing to declare his interest in a telecommunications company while taking part in parliamentary inquiries relating to the industry.

Also in 2017, he was criticised by Greenpeace for promoting the controversial biomass energy after accepting more than £50,000 in political donations and hospitality from companies in the biomass sector.

At the time, Mr Adams said he referred to his hospitality and donations from biomass companies in parliamentary proceedings when his interventions were substantively about the industry.