Sources have disputed Charlotte Owen’s claim to have worked as an intern for the former chancellor George Osborne, either directly or at his constituency office, raising further questions about her inclusion in Boris Johnson’s honours list.
The 29 year-old former Downing Street adviser, who is set to become the UK’s youngest life peer, states on her LinkedIn profile that she interned for Osborne for a month in 2011, while he was serving as chancellor in David Cameron’s Cabinet, and a year later at his Tatton office.
But senior sources who worked at his office at the time tell Tortoise that is not the case.
Instead, they say Owen was a member of the local party association and part of Conservative Future, precursor to the Young Conservatives, which was shut down in 2015 after a scandal in which a youth activist took his own life.
Last week Tortoise revealed that Owen appeared to have exaggerated the length of her service in Number 10 after sources, backed up by official documents, refuted claims she had worked in Downing Street as a special adviser to Johnson from February 2021 until October 2022.
A spokesman who has hitherto handled press for Owen said: “I believe she isn’t saying anything on this one, but anything further isn’t for me.” He said he no longer spoke for her “or anyone else on the [Johnson resignation honours] list” and didn’t respond when asked how the future baroness could be reached. A mystery.
Photograph James Veysey/Shutterstock
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