Johnson partner to live at Downing Street

Boris Johnson's girlfriend Carrie Symonds will become the first unmarried partner of a British prime minister to live at 10 Downing Street.

Johnson, 55, and Symonds, 31, planned to move into the prime minister's residence on Monday, a Downing Street spokeswoman said.

"The PM is officially moving in today and, yes, his partner will be living there," she said.

Johnson succeeded Theresa May as prime minister last week after he won a run-off ballot in the ruling Conservative Party.

Media reports on a row at their London apartment between Johnson and Symonds, a former Conservative Party communications director, had overshadowed the final weeks of Johnson's campaign to lead the party.

The couple reportedly fled the apartment after it was besieged by journalists and activists following the row, which was overheard by a neighbour who sent a recording to The Guardian newspaper.

Despite the media focus on the row, Johnson won two-thirds of votes in the Conservatives' postal ballot, easily beating rival Jeremy Hunt.