Tag: Hadley Freeman

A coalition of political journalists, advisers and politicians have signed a letter condemning sexist media coverage of the woman at the centre of the allegations about Boris Johnson’s private life. The open letter said the treatment of Carrie Symonds, the former CCHQ director of communications, had been appalling and would discourage talented women from entering politics and the media. It is signed by politicians including sports minister Tracey Crouch and fellow Tory MPs Anna Soubry and Nicky Morgan, as well as Labour MP Stella Creasy. It is also signed by journalists including Kate Maltby and Jane Merrick, who have written about their experiences of harassment in Westminster and been attacked in the tabloid press. The ‘scarlet woman’ cliche wheeled out for Carrie Symonds makes me vomit | Hadley Freeman Read more Symonds, who was previously an adviser to several cabinet minsters, has been linked to the former foreign secretary by several tabloid newspapers. Johnson and his wife, Marina Wheeler, have recently announced their divorce. Several newspapers have carried pictures of Symonds dressed in revealing clothing, taken from her Facebook page. “We all work in or around politics, and have been disturbed and shocked to watch the way Carrie Symonds has been treated by the media. “Still, we are united in thinking that the way she has been treated is appalling, and must never happen again,” the letter read. “Being a woman in politics isn’t easy, and each of us has had to overcome a lot to get to where we are, and so has she,” it went on.