Boris Johnson has heated phone call with Australian strategist Lynton Crosby about his girlfriend

Britain’s new Prime Minister Boris Johnson had an explosive telephone call with his former Australian election strategist about his much younger girlfriend’s expenses.

Sir Lynton Crosby was accused of leaking to a newspaper details of Carrie Symonds’s lavish perks as a former communications director with the UK Conservative Party.

Mr Johnson reportedly asked Sir Lynton, a centre-right election campaign guru raised in South Australia, whether he had planted a media story about his 31-year-old girlfriend’s £80,000-a-year ($143,000) post, The Sunday Times reported.

Carrie Symonds’s lavish perks as a former communications director with the U.K. Conservative Party were the subject of a heated phone conservation (she is pictured last week waiting for her boyfriend Boris Johnson to arrive at 10 Downing Street) 

‘Lynton didn’t like the accusatory line of questioning taken by Mr Johnson and slammed the phone down,’ a party insider said.  

Another Tory political operator told News UK Sir Lynton and his allies saw Miss Symonds as a political liability to Mr Johnson, a father-of-four who turned 55 last month.

‘They regard her a barnacle on the boat and have been questioning Boris’s judgement about whether it was a good idea for him to be flaunting their relationship when he was running to be prime minister,’ this source said.

Miss Symonds resigned from her Tory post in August 2018, a month after Mr Johnson quit as foreign secretary in protest at his predecessor Theresa May’s handling of Brexit negotiations. 

Unnamed sources had previously told the Daily Mail that Conservative Party chiefs had accused her of running up unauthorised expenses.

They included secretly booking cabs in the names of junior staff to disguise the fact they were for her, and using taxis for free travel home and to bars and restaurants to meet friends, even when off duty.

Sir Lynton Crosby (left) accused of leaking to a newspaper details of Miss Symonds’ expenses. He reported objected to Boris Johnson (right) accusing him of disloyalty

Earlier this year, Miss Symonds appeared at anti-whaling rally in central London with Mr Johnson’s father Stanley

Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds began their relationship after he had quit as foreign secretary in protest at Theresa May’s handling of Brexit negotiations 

She was also accused of holidaying in Morocco, and putting pictures on Instagram, even as party headquarters were understaffed.

The PM’s new girlfriend began a relationship with Mr Johnson months after he separated from his second wife of 25 years, Marina Wheeler, who is also the mother of his four children.

Earlier this year, Miss Symonds appeared at anti-whaling rally in central London with Mr Johnson’s father Stanley.

Sir Lynton was previously the federal director of the Liberal Party in Australia from 1997 to 2002 and masterminded former prime minister John Howard’s 1996, 1998, 2001 and 2004 election campaigns,.

In 2008, he was the brains behind Mr Johnson’s successful campaign to become the Mayor of London, a city which is more often Labour-controlled.

He also helped run former British prime minister Theresa May’s 2017 election campaign, which saw her lose her majority in Parliament after calling a snap poll.

Sir Lynton is also the co-founder of the CT Group, previously known as Crosby Textor, which offers strategic campaign advice to conservative political parties around the world.

The PM’s new girlfriend began a relationship with Mr Johnson months after he separated from his second wife of 25 years, Marina Wheeler, who is also the mother of his four children