Boris Johnson, a leadership candidate for Britain's Conservative Party, attends a hustings event in Colchester, Britain July 13, 2019. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

LONDON (Reuters) - Boris Johnson, the frontrunner to become Britain’s prime minister this month, declined to say on Monday whether his girlfriend would live with him in the leader’s official residence if he wins the contest.

Johnson, who is currently divorcing his second wife, has avoided answering questions about a late-night row with his girlfriend Carrie Symonds last month that led to neighbours calling police to his home.

“I just don’t talk about people I love because, if you drag them into the public, they can’t answer for themselves,” Johnson said during a leadership debate. “I have had a pretty ruthless rule of not commenting on that sort of thing.”

Asked who he would live with in the official Downing Street residence, he said: “I don’t want to get into any kind of presumptious theorising about living in Downing Street at all.”