Former foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and his wife, Marina Wheeler, have announced that they are to seek a divorce.
“Several months ago, after 25 years of marriage, we decided it was in our best interests to separate,” they said.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“We have subsequently agreed to divorce and that process is under way.”
Johnson and Wheeler, a barrister, have four adult children, whom they said they will continue to support together “as friends”.
The statement added that they would “not be commenting further” on the circumstances of their split.
However, The Sun reports that Wheeler called time on the marriage after discovering that Johnson had once again had an affair.
The newspaper, which broke the news of the split, says that the couple’s daughter Lara, 25, was overheard telling friends that her father was a “selfish b*****d” and claiming that her mother “will never take him back now”.
The pair’s marriage has repeatedly been strained by Johnson’s well-documented history of infidelity.
Wheeler “has thrown Boris out on two previous occasions”, the Daily Mirror reports, over at least two confirmed affairs, including an extramarital fling in 2009 that resulted in a love child.
In 2004, Johnson was sacked from then-Conservative leader Michael Howard’s shadow cabinet for lying about a four-year affair with journalist Petronella Wyatt - “something he had denied as an ‘inverted pyramid of piffle’”, says the BBC.
The Daily Telegraph says that the former foreign secretary’s indiscretions may once again have harmed his political career.
“If Mr Johnson succeeds Mrs May as Tory leader and prime minister, he would become the first divorced party leader to live in 10 Downing Street in modern times,” the newspaper notes.
-
The vast horizons of the Puna de AtacamaThe Week Recommends The ‘dramatic and surreal’ landscape features volcanoes, fumaroles and salt flats
-
Asylum hotels: everything you need to knowThe Explainer Using hotels to house asylum seekers has proved extremely unpopular. Why, and what can the government do about it?
-
Sudoku medium: November 16, 2025The daily medium sudoku puzzle from The Week
-
Asylum hotels: everything you need to know
The Explainer Using hotels to house asylum seekers has proved extremely unpopular. Why, and what can the government do about it?
-
Taking the low road: why the SNP is still standing strongTalking Point Party is on track for a fifth consecutive victory in May’s Holyrood election, despite controversies and plummeting support
-
Behind the ‘Boriswave’: Farage plans to scrap indefinite leave to remainThe Explainer The problem of the post-Brexit immigration surge – and Reform’s radical solution
-
What difference will the 'historic' UK-Germany treaty make?Today's Big Question Europe's two biggest economies sign first treaty since WWII, underscoring 'triangle alliance' with France amid growing Russian threat and US distance
-
Is the G7 still relevant?Talking Point Donald Trump's early departure cast a shadow over this week's meeting of the world's major democracies
-
Angela Rayner: Labour's next leader?Today's Big Question A leaked memo has sparked speculation that the deputy PM is positioning herself as the left-of-centre alternative to Keir Starmer
-
Is Starmer's plan to send migrants overseas Rwanda 2.0?Today's Big Question Failed asylum seekers could be removed to Balkan nations under new government plans
-
Has Starmer put Britain back on the world stage?Talking Point UK takes leading role in Europe on Ukraine and Starmer praised as credible 'bridge' with the US under Trump
