Steerpike Steerpike

Read: Carrie Symonds’s barking mad letter

OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images

It has been a ruff time in No. 10 for poor old Dilyn the dog. Adopted in September 2019, the Jack Russell-cross has been the subject of interminable briefing wars about his constant yapping, destructive tendencies and attempts to fornicate with his next door neighbour. But while not everyone in Downing Street is smitten with the sex-crazed mutt, Dilyn is fortunate in having an ardent champion in owner Carrie Symonds who clearly takes his welfare very seriously.

Just yesterday Mr S noted how a March 2020 story in the Times that suggested Dilyn might be rehomed had been unceremoniously purged from the newspaper’s website. Now it seems fresh light has been shed on the lengths Symonds was willing to go to defend her pooch, with the Daily Mail today printing a letter she drafted demanding a ‘suitable apology’ from the Times.

The 325 word letter – obtained by the remorseless Simon Walters – was drafted in the names of Symonds and Boris Johnson but was not sent after the latter reportedly objected on the grounds it was a ‘nonsense.’ Walters quotes a source who claims Johnson did not complain about the report as ‘it was essentially true’ because ‘at one stage there was talk of getting rid of Dilyn. Carrie loves the dog but Boris has never been a fan. It drives him round the bend.’

Sadly the complaint never graced the august letter pages of our paper of record. Highlights include Symonds claiming the article breached not one but four sections of the Editors’ Code of Practice for the Independent Press Standards Organisation including accuracy, privacy, harassment and children. The Times was guilty of a ‘gross invasion of our privacy;’ it was ‘extremely upsetting and hurtful’ and caused ‘damage’ with these ‘untrue and unwarranted claims.’ 

The note closes with a request that ‘we look forward to hearing from you as a matter of urgency’ – this at a time when the first Covid wave was beginning to break on Britain’s shores.

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Steerpike
Written by
Steerpike

Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

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