BORIS Johnson, who has been accused of hiding during the exam results fiasco in England, was tracked down yesterday while on a camping holiday in the Scottish Highlands.
The Prime Minister had been out of the media spotlight and had not commented on either the public fury over downgraded A-Level results or the
U-turn after ministers decided to revert to using original teacher assessments of students.
But Scottish freelance photographer Peter Jolly snapped Johnson at a remote coastal location where a cream-coloured tepee tent had been pitched close to the three-bedroomed holiday cottage where he is staying.
Jolly also snapped Johnson in a beanie hat and shirt, appearing like he has just left the tent.
A YouGov poll published yesterday found 53% of voters thought Johnson should have cut his holiday short to deal with the exam results situation.
He had been apparently staying at the cottage since last weekend with his fiancee Carrie Symonds, their baby son Wilfred and dog Dilyn.
Number 10 initially declined to reveal where the Prime Minister had chosen to travel to and insisted he would not end his break to take charge of the exam results crisis.
But Jolly’s photos were published on the front page of the Daily Mail yesterday.
The newspaper said it had chosen not to reveal where exactly in Scotland the cottage is, but reported it costs £1500 a week to rent during the peak summer months.
Previous prime ministers, including Theresa May and David Cameron, have allowed the press to take limited photographs of them on holiday, in return for privacy.
Although the Prime Minister has so far not yielded to pressure from opposition MPs and the media to return to Westminster, he has tweeted his congratulations to pupils receiving their GCSE results on Thursday.
He also took to Twitter to thank those involved in the successful prosecution of Hashem Abedi, the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber.
But while Johnson has been on holiday a series of problems have rocked his Government – including rising support for independence:
England’s second-largest city, Birmingham, is now facing a regional partial lockdown following a surge in Covid-19 cases in the last week
-A record number of GCSE A/A*s were awarded based on teacher-estimated grades after the algorithm U-turn putting pressure on university places
-The number of coronavirus cases across the UK has slowly crept up since early July when restrictions were eased
Johnson’s choice of a modest property is in stark contrast to the glamorous surroundings of the luxury Caribbean island of Mustique, where he chose to holiday over the New Year period.
But his decision to go on holiday and avoid journalists’ questions has been compared negatively with the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon who has taken no holiday breaks during the pandemic crisis and simply enjoyed a walk on the beach in Dunure in Ayrshire on her 50th birthday.
The cottage where Johnson and his family are staying features sweeping coastal views and costs more than £1500 a week to rent in the peak summer months.
The canvas tent, which is not normally listed as a feature of the property, could be seen about 50 yards from the cottage.
The property, which features its own source of spring water, was likely to have been chosen for its remoteness, with the few nearby homes located several hundred yards away. A public road overlooks the cottage.
On Thursday, Johnson was seen coming and going to talk with his six-strong security team, whose three vehicles have been parked outside throughout his stay.
One holidaymaker told how he was taken aback when the Tory leader stumbled past him on a hiking trail on Wednesday.
He described how Johnson, whose face was covered with a specialist hat designed to keep away the area’s midge population, was joined on the walk by a small entourage.
As well as two close-protection guards who are routinely at the Prime Minister’s side, he was joined by Symonds, a local guide and an unknown woman who was walking Dilyn.
The tourist said: “It just looked like any other normal family day out.”
The Prime Minister last month said he would be working “flat out” through the summer but revealed plans to escape for a mini-break at some point.
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