That being said, we should first clarify that the personal life of Boris Johnson is a chaotic, complex, and never-ending drama among the British people. There are real people who are maturing in the environment of the divorces, the scandals, and the never ending news cycles. Milo Arthur Johnson is one of them. You will not see him making interviews or filling the front pages. It is not about political ambition in his story. It concerns something much more mundane, and thus, much more captivating when you are Johnson.
Think about April 2020. The country was locked down. The Prime Minister was in intensive care with COVID. Then, the news broke: Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds had a baby boy. Wilfred. The headlines went wild. But tucked away in that sprawling family tree is Milo Arthur Johnson, a young man who has spent nearly three decades navigating what it means to be a Johnson kid without the fanfare. He’s the quiet counterpoint to the public chaos.
The Johnson Clan: A Quick Guide to Who’s Who
Before we talk about Milo, you need a scorecard. Boris Johnson’s children come from different relationships, a fact he’s been notoriously slippery about. It’s a big, blended family. Here’s the lay of the land, put simply:
- The First Marriage (to Allegra Mostyn-Owen): Produced one daughter, Lara. She’s a writer, often seen as the most public of the kids.
- The Big, Long Marriage (to Marina Wheeler): This is where Milo Arthur Johnson comes in. He was the first son born to Boris and Marina in 1995. He’s got three full siblings from this marriage: Cassia, Theo, and another son. For over 20 years, this was the “official” Johnson family unit—Islington-based, professional, somewhat shielded.
- The Affair (with Helen Macintyre): Resulted in a daughter, Stephanie, in 2009. Her existence was a secret for years, a tabloid bombshell.
- The Current Marriage (to Carrie Symonds): Gave us baby Wilfred in 2020, and later, a sister, Romy. The “Number 10 babies,” born right into the political storm.
So, where does Milo Arthur Johnson fit? He’s smack in the middle. Old enough to remember a time before his dad was the Boris Johnson, young enough to have lived through the very public unravelling of his parents’ marriage.
Growing Up a Johnson-Wheeler: Not Quite “Normal”
Let’s picture it. The 1990s. Boris is a flashy journalist and MP. Marina Wheeler is a sharp, formidable barrister. Their home in Islington was, by all accounts, a noisy, bookish, competitive place. Friends described chaos, laughter, and fierce intellectual debates around the kitchen table.
For Milo Arthur Johnson, this was just childhood. But it was a childhood with unique rules:
- The Privacy Rule: Marina Wheeler was the gatekeeper. She was determined her children would have a childhood. No cute photo ops for the papers. No interviews. She built a wall between family life and public life, and she defended it fiercely. This is the single biggest reason we know so little about Milo today.
- The Education Path: He was sent to St. Paul’s School in London—an elite, academically brutal institution. It’s the kind of place that produces prime ministers, but also poets and physicists. It wasn’t a political statement; it was what professional, ambitious Londoners like his parents did. The message was clear: achieve on your own merit.
- The Dad Dynamic: By many accounts, Boris was a fun, but chaotic and often absent, figure at home. The parenting heavy lifting fell to Marina. Milo would have seen his father’s fame grow—from TV personality to Mayor of London to the center of the Brexit circus. That’s a weird thing to watch on telly when it’s your dad.
The Family Earthquake: What Happens When It All Falls Apart
The real turning point for Milo Arthur Johnson wasn’t his father becoming Prime Minister. It was the years leading up to it.
- 2018: His parents separate. It’s acrimonious, played out in the courts and the press. His father moves in with Carrie Symonds, 24 years his junior.
- 2019: The divorce is finalized. Boris becomes Prime Minister almost immediately after.
- 2020: A new half-brother, Wilfred, is born. His father nearly dies of COVID, then marries Carrie.
Imagine that as a young adult in your mid-20s. Your private family collapse becomes national gossip. Your dad’s new life is front-page news every day. The stable, if eccentric, world Marina Wheeler built was gone, replaced by a global media spectacle. Through all this, Milo Arthur Johnson and his siblings did something remarkable: they said nothing. Not a word.
So, Who Is He Now? Piecing Together the Picture
This is where we have to read between the lines, because the family silence is absolute. But here’s what the tea leaves suggest:
- He’s Not in Politics: This is the biggest clue. He hasn’t joined Conservative Future. He’s not a researcher in Parliament. He’s not doing the classic political offspring tour. That tells you a lot.
- He Went to University: It’s believed he attended the University of Bristol. A great university, but not Oxford (his father’s stamping ground). Another small act of differentiation.
- He’s Invisible Online: He’s rumoured to have social media accounts, but they’re locked down tight. In the digital age, that’s a conscious, effortful choice.
- The “Arthur” in the Room: His middle name. Arthur. It’s solid, historical, kingly. It feels like a name from Marina’s side—a link to a deeper, more stable heritage than the Johnson rollercoaster. Maybe it’s just a name they liked. But in this family, names feel like statements.
The most likely scenario? Milo Arthur Johnson is exhibiting what most of the clever, privately-educated Londoners who are in their late 20s do. He is likely to work in a professional role, perhaps in law, finance, technology or arts. He has a group of school and college friends that are indifferent of his surname. His life is normal in the day-to-day ups and downs of it.
FAQs: The Stuff You’re Actually Wondering
Q: How many kids does Boris Johnson actually have?
A: Six that we know of. From oldest to youngest: Lara, Milo, Cassia, Theo, Stephanie, Wilfred, and Romy.
Q: Why is Milo so private compared to, say, his sister Lara?
A: Lara chose a career (journalism) that puts her in the public eye. Milo has chosen not to. It’s that simple. Their mother’s rule was always about giving them the choice.
Q: Does he get on with Carrie Symonds and the new babies?
A: Nobody knows. And that’s the point. The family doesn’t do public displays of unity or discord. Any relationship is happening firmly behind closed doors.
Q: Will he ever go into politics?
A: It seems profoundly unlikely. His entire adult life has been a masterclass in avoiding the spotlight that comes with the name.
Conclusion: The Power of the Quiet Life
Finally, the novel of Milo Arthur Johnson perhaps was the most subversive of all the Johnsons. In a family where the voices are loud, more personalities and appetite to the limelight are insatiable, he is the other way: quiet.
He is living proof that you can be born into a narrative and simply choose not to participate in it. While the world obsesses over his father’s legacy, his stepmother’s influence, and his baby half-sibling’s nursery in Downing Street, Milo Arthur Johnson is almost certainly just… living. He’s the son who watched the circus from the stands, decided it wasn’t for him, and walked away.
And in doing so, he has perhaps achieved the most elusive thing possible for a child of a prime minister: a true, uncomplicated self. Not Johnson the politician, or Johnson the celebrity. Just Milo. The rest, quite rightly, is none of our business.
