Cleo Watson

Cleo Watson is a British author and former special adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Education
Watson attended Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls. Watson grew up in Hay-on-Wye and studied politics and economics at Cardiff University.

Career
In 2012, Watson interned for the Barack Obama 2012 presidential campaign. Watson joined 10 Downing Street in 2019, as an ally of Dominic Cummings and a former employee at Vote Leave.

Watson described working as a like a “nanny” to Boris Johnson during the COVID-19 pandemic. She was fined after Partygate. Following the Sue Gray report it emerged that Watson had organised the event. In November 2020, Watson left Downing Street alongside Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain. In September 2022, she was a panellist on the debut episode of Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg on BBC One.

Watson is an author of two books. In 2024, she described Johnson as "quiet, bookish and, occasionally, extremely nasty".

Personal life
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.

In popular culture
Watson was portrayed by Naomi Battrick in the Channel 4 drama Partygate. Watson was portrayed by Greta Bellamacina in the Sky Atlantic docudrama television miniseries This England.