Revealed: Carrie Symonds's best friend Nimco Ali was given a £350-a-day government role without it being advertised
The best friend of Boris Johnson’s fiancee Carrie Symonds was given an official paid role without it being advertised.
The Home Office announced in October that Nimco Ali had been made an adviser on tackling violence against women and girls. The Government role, for which she is paid £350 a day for around two days’ work a month, was not advertised through any competitive application process.
The appointment raises issues of jobs for cronies because it appears to have been created for Miss Ali, a prominent anti-FGM campaigner who is godmother to Miss Symonds’ son with the Prime Minister.
Nimco Ali, 38, pictured left, is Carrie Symonds' best friend and has been handed a £350-a-day government advisory job without the role going out to competitive tender
Ms Ali is also god daughter to Ms Symond's' son with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, right
The 38-year-old, who has sought to be Tory mayoral candidate in London, was given the job to ‘help shape our strategy to better target perpetrators and support victims of these crimes’.
A response to a freedom of information request from The Critic magazine revealed the role was granted via ‘a direct appointment process’ which was ‘made without open competition’ or the job even being advertised. There is no record of the post existing prior to its announcement.
The Home Office insisted the procedure was ‘appropriate for short-term advisory roles, for example to lead a Government review or to champion a specific subject area’. It added: ‘As this is a direct appointment, the role was not advertised and was not offered to anyone other than Miss Ali.’
The Somali-born campaigner is one of Miss Symonds’ closest friends and was pictured with her on a recent trip to Venice.
Last year she launched a global project to end female genital mutilation by 2030. The Daily Mail revealed last week that Mr Johnson tried to give another close friend of Miss Symonds, former TalkRadio journalist Ross Kempsell, a £90,000-a-year job at Conservative party HQ.
This newspaper also told how Miss Symonds tried to stop the Prime Minister hosting a Covid crisis meeting to deal with a media row over their dog Dilyn.