Cleo Watson is a British author and former special adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson. [1]
Watson attended Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls. [2] She grew up in Hay-on-Wye and studied politics and economics at Cardiff University. [3]
In 2012, Watson interned for the Barack Obama 2012 presidential campaign. [3] She joined 10 Downing Street in 2019, as an ally of Dominic Cummings and a former employee at Vote Leave. [4]
She described working for Boris Johnson during the COVID-19 pandemic as being a like a "nanny" to him. [5] She was fined after the Partygate scandal. [6] Following the Sue Gray report it emerged that Watson had organised the event. [7] In November 2020, she left Downing Street alongside Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain. [8] In September 2022, she was a panellist on the debut episode of Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg on BBC One. [9]
Watson is an author of two books. [10] In 2024, she described Johnson as "quiet, bookish and, occasionally, extremely nasty". [11]
Watson's sister Annabel worked as chief of staff for Theresa May from 2006 and 2010 when she was Shadow Leader of the House of Commons and Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary. [2]
Watson was portrayed by Naomi Battrick in the Channel 4 drama Partygate . [12] She was portrayed by Greta Bellamacina in the Sky Atlantic docudrama television miniseries This England. [13]