Guto Harri and Boris Johnson have a ‘love-hate relationship’

Guto Harri and Boris Johnson have a “love-hate relationship”, it has been claimed.

An ally of both men made the claim while speaking to The Times about the relationship between the new Downing Street Director of Communications and the Prime Minister, but added  that “fundamentally it’s love”.

The news organisation reported that friends of both men have said that the “obviously eye-catching appointment” of the former BBC journalist who was Johnson’s PR chief during his first term as London mayor was made because “he was seen as someone who was close enough to the prime minister to offer him unvarnished and frank advice”.

This was “even though their relationship had gone through ups and downs in more recent years.”

One ally of both said: “He and Boris have had a love-hate relationship for a long time.

“But fundamentally it’s love and Guto is pretty streetwise.”

‘Media storm’ 

The comments come following a media storm prompted by an interview Harri to Golwg360 gave on his first day in the job.

He revealed to the Welsh language news website that he and Johnson sang I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor before they discussed how to save the PM’s premiership.

Of Johnson, Harri told Golwg360: “He’s not a complete clown but he’s a very likeable character.”

There were also reports that Harri had previously lobbied Downing Street on behalf of the Chinese telecoms company Huawei.

His first week in the job was capped by his retweet of a tweet by a lobbyist who had criticised Johnson after an attack by Sir John Major.

The tweet said: “Johnson acolytes out in force dismissing what John Major has said because of who he is without even vaguely trying to pretend that anything he said is untrue.”

The retweet was hastily deleted.