Dilyn’s taxpayer-funded photoshoot

Oh dear. Since Dilyn the dog entered 10 Downing Street in 2019, the rescue puppy has fallen victim to a number of brutal briefings. First, it was reported that he was rather unpopular in the building on account of his noisy antics — a claim furiously denied by Boris Johnson’s fiance Carrie Symonds. Then after the Vote Leave faction departed No. 10, Dominic Cummings wrote in The Spectator on the problem with politicians who focus more on ‘gossip-column stories about their dogs’ than on ‘issues of existential importance’.

Now Dilyn is in the news once again. In a series of photographs entitled ‘Dilyn in the Snow’, the Downing Street pup is captured in a range of poses — from standing in the snow to playing with a frosty stick. The problem? As delightful as the photos may be, they appear on the official Downing Street Flickr photo account and the photo has been taken by one of three taxpayer-funded photographers.