The Real Story of Charlotte Owen and Boris Johnson

Why was such a junior Downing Street official handed a life peerage by the former Prime Minister?

Every now and then the name “Charlotte Owen” trends on social media. 

The reason for this is the ongoing mystery of why Owen, who was a fairly junior official in Boris Johnson’s government, was handed a life peerage by the former Prime Minister.

Whenever her name pops up, multiple Tweets go viral suggesting that she was handed this honour because she was either the love child of Johnson, or his lover.

As I will set out below, neither of these claims appear to hold up.

Despite being widely believed, I’ve seen no clear evidence that Owen was ennobled because of some undisclosed personal relationship with Johnson.

So what might be the real reason for her elevation?

Here is where things gets much murkier.