Boris Johnson and his fiancee Carrie Symonds had their son Wilfred christened a Catholic, the largest Catholic cathedral in England and Wales has confirmed.
Westminster Cathedral said the couple had their four-month-old son baptised there in a ceremony on September 12 by Father Daniel Humphreys.
It is understood the christening was a small ceremony held in the cathedral’s Lady Chapel, according to The Daily Telegraph.
The Prime Minister and Ms Symonds, who has previously talked about her Catholic faith on social media, were reportedly holding Wilfred as he was baptised.
Crucially, it gives Mr Johnson an airtight alibi after he was accused of flying into Italy that weekend for a jaunt despite the twin crises of Brexit and coronavirus.
A spokesman for Westminster Cathedral told the newspaper: ‘I can confirm that he was baptised at Westminster Cathedral on September 12. It was a private event.’
The Prime Minister had been accused of leaving the UK for Italy after newspaper La Repubblica published an article carrying a statement from Perugia Airport which claimed that Mr Johnson had passed through ‘in the last few days’.
Boris Johnson and his fiancee Carrie Symonds had their baby son Wilfred christened a Catholic, the largest Catholic cathedral in England and Wales has confirmed
Westminster Cathedral said the couple had their four-month-old son baptised there in a ceremony on September 12 by Father Daniel Humphreys. It is understood the christening was a small ceremony held in the Henry VII Lady Chapel, a 16th-century building which is the burial place of 15 monarchs including Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots and James I
It was accompanied by a quote from an airport source, saying that he landed on Friday, September 11 at around 2pm.
The airport was forced to retract its claim when No10 said the allegations were ‘completely untrue’ – and revealed that staff had him muddled with Tony Blair.
An airport worker mistook a ‘private citizen’ arriving from Farnborough in Hampshire as the Prime Minister, the president of the airport said yesterday.
However after checking their registry and liaising with police, the airport found that the one passenger who had landed at the airport on September 12 was ‘a private citizen and not Boris Johnson’.
Perugia Airport’s president has now told the Daily Telegraph that Mr Johnson was ‘definitely’ not at the airport and staff mistook him for ex-Labour PM Mr Blair.
Perugia Airport has retracted its claim Boris Johnson flew into Italy earlier this month – and said staff had him muddled with Tony Blair
The president of the airport (pictured) set the record straight this afternoon hours after Downing Street first issued a robust denial of the story.
The withdrawal draws a line under a mystery that had Westminster puzzled.
On the Friday he was claimed to be in Italy, Mr Johnson was faced with MPs preparing to rebel on his international law-breaking Brexit legislation and rising numbers of coronavirus infections across the UK.
Mr Johnson has reportedly travelled to the airport before to visit his friend Evgeny Lebedev, owner of the Evening Standard, at his medieval castle.
Russian-born Mr Lebedev, whose father is a former KGB operative, is known for hosting lavish parties for celebrity guests at the Castello di Santa Eurasia.
According to one report Mr Johnson worked from Downing Street on the day in question and took part in a Zoom call with 256 Tory MPs on Brexit.
Mr Johnson had tried to give a patriotic rallying cry to encourage his colleagues to back his controversial plans for the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
One source said that Mr Johnson’s connection had cut out during the call and when he came back on he joked that he should probably invest in super-fast internet, Politics Home reported.
Lebedev, 41, who owns the Evening Standard newspaper and is frequently seen mixing in the upper echelons of the celebrity social scene, owns the breathtaking Castello di Santa Eurasia
Russian-born Mr Lebedev, whose father is a former KGB operative, is known for hosting lavish parties for his celebrity friends at the Castello di Santa Eurasia
Last year it was reported that Mr Johnson, during his time as Foreign Secretary, had been spotted at Perugia’s airport looking dishevelled ‘in last night’s clothes.’
A fellow passenger told The Guardian that Mr Johnson appeared to be stumbling around and at one point looked as if he might vomit.
There was silence from Mr Johnson’s communications staff when those reports emerged last year.
Last month, Mr Johnson nominated Mr Lebedev for a life peerage for his services to the media industry and his philanthropic work.
A Downing Street spokesman had said: ‘This story is completely untrue. The Prime Minister has not travelled to Italy in recent months. Anyone who publishes these claims is repeating a falsehood.’