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Boris Johnson’s head of policy resigned this afternoon after more than 14 years working under him. Munira Mirza has worked alongside Mr Johnson since his City Hall days, but quit over the Prime Minister’s Jimmy Savile attack on Keir Starmer. Her departure will come as yet another blow to Number 10, exacerbated only by her strongly-worded resignation letter.<\/p>\n
Mrs Mirza wrote: “I believe it was wrong for you to imply this week that Keir Starmer was personally responsible for allowing Jimmy Savile to escape justice.<\/p>\n
“There was no fair or reasonable basis for that assertion. This was not the usual cut and thrust of politics; it was an inappropriate and partisan reference to a horrendous case of child sex abuse.”<\/p>\n
Mrs Mirza added that, despite urging him to, Mr Johnson had refused to apologise for the shocking slur.<\/p>\n
She wrote: “You are a better man than many of your detractors will ever understand, which is why it is desperately sad that you let yourself down by making a scurrilous accusation against the Leader of the Opposition.”<\/p>\n
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Mrs Mirza has been crucial to Mr Johnson’s political rise, and she formed one half of the “most influential couple in Downing Street”.<\/p>\n
She is married to Dougie Smith, who was also appointed to be a senior aide at Number 10 under Mr Johnson.<\/p>\n
Gordon Rayner wrote in The Telegraph last September that the “curious couple” Mrs Mirza and Mr Smith “happen to be the most powerful husband and wife in British politics” after Boris and Carrie Johnson.<\/p>\n
He said: “If you’ve never heard of them (and you certainly won’t be alone) that’s because, unlike the Johnsons, they have never sought fame or public recognition, and actively try to avoid it.<\/p>\n
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“But you can guarantee that Mirza and Smith have affected how you are living your life right now.”<\/p>\n
Mrs Mirza was labelled the Prime Minister’s “political muse” and co-wrote the Conservative Party manifesto that delivered the biggest Tory majority since Margaret Thatcher’s 1987 election victory.<\/p>\n
Mr Rayner said she “shapes the Government decisions that dictate everything from your liberties to your taxes”.<\/p>\n
She insisted that she is “not party-political” in a December 2018 appearance on the TRIGGERnometry podcast.<\/p>\n
DON’T MISS: She told the podcast: “I call myself left-wing but I find my arguments with people tend to be strong with people on the left.”<\/p>\n She described herself as “liberal” in the same interview.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, her husband co-founded Fever Parties, an agency which organised sex parties for up to 50 couples at a time before moving into Tory politics in 2003.<\/p>\n Nowadays, he steers well clear of the limelight. One backbench MP told Mr Rayner: “It’s almost a myth that he even exists”.<\/p>\n Mr Rayner wrote: “Smith’s precise job is a mystery even to Cabinet ministers, but if you have a Tory MP, the chances are that the Scotsman will have had a say in putting them there, and when they make a mistake — such as being exposed in The Daily Telegraph’s MPs’ expenses investigation — it is Smith who will be called in to save their skin.”<\/p>\n Mr Rayner added Tory insiders have said Mr Smith was “more instrumental in the 2019 election win than Dominic Cummings”.<\/p>\n He continued: “[Smith] has been likened to The Wolf in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, a gangland fixer who is called upon to make problems go away. Disobeying Smith is seen as career suicide, but unlike Harvey Keitel’s Wolf, who use his calm authority to ensure compliance, Smith uses another tactic: fear.”<\/p>\n One MP told Mr Rayner that Mr Smith is “menacing”, partly down to his Scottish accent.<\/p>\n One Whitehall source told The Telegraph last year: “They are the most influential people you’ve never heard of. They’re both in the room when a lot of key decisions are made.<\/p>\n “The Prime Minister trusts them both and each is pretty much indispensable in their own way. It’s hard to imagine a Number 10 without them.”<\/p>\n Ultimately, Mr Johnson will have to imagine a Number 10 without one of them, as his longest-serving aide is no longer.<\/p>\n Stephen Bush wrote in The Spectator this afternoon: “Mirza’s resignation is a sign that Johnson’s government is in perhaps terminal trouble and that his inner circle is in turmoil.<\/p>\n “It is hard to see how Johnson can ever truly recover from his present crisis — even if Tory MPs prove to be so inept at wielding the knife that it falls to the electorate to deliver the final fatal blow.”<\/p>\n
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