The tiff apparently involved Johnson, a former foreign secretary, spilling red wine on a couch in the home of his girlfriend, Carrie Symonds, a 31-year-old public relations executive, according to the Guardian newspaper, which first reported the incident.

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A neighbor said she heard a woman screaming followed by slamming and banging and called the police emergency number as the argument escalated. A recording of the couple’s argument, obtained by the Guardian, purportedly includes Symonds telling Johnson: “Get off me” and “get out of my flat.”

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A voice that appears to be Johnson, 55, is heard refusing to leave the apartment, which is where he is living as he goes through a divorce with his second wife. Johnson then tells Symonds to get off his laptop, the Guardian said.

“You just don’t care for anything because you’re spoilt. You have no care for money or anything,” Symonds said, according to the Guardian. The authenticity of the tape could not be independently verified.

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It is unclear whether the incident could have any fallout on Johnson’s bid to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May.

Johnson is seen as the favorite to be the next leader of the country and inherit the huge complications of Britain’s exit from the European Union.

At his first hustings event in front of Conservative Party members on Saturday afternoon, Johnson repeatedly dodged questions about the incident.

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“I don’t think they want to hear about that kind of thing,” Johnson said.

The moderator, broadcast journalist Iain Dale, argued otherwise.

“If the police are called to your home, it makes it everyone’s business. You are running for the office of not just leader of the Conservative Party but prime minister. So, therefore, a lot of people who do admire your politics do call into question your character,” he said.

Some of Johnson’s supporters have questioned the political motives of the neighbor and argued that politicians are entitled to their private lives.

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Richard Barnes, a former Conservative Party politician who served as deputy mayor of London under Johnson, told BBC Newsnight: “I question the motives of the neighbors who stood there with a microphone pressed against the wall recording somebody’s row. . . . So concerned were they, they went to the Guardian.”

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The Guardian is a left-leaning British newspaper.

Allison Pearson, a columnist with the Daily Telegraph, told BBC Radio 4: “What business do we have to listen in to a private lovers’ tiff?”

James Cleverly, a Conservative lawmaker, tweeted: “The big element in the Boris story isn’t that there was a heated argument, it’s that the police were called. The police were called by the same person who recorded Boris and gave the story to the Guardian.”

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On Thursday evening, a few hours before the alleged altercation, Johnson topped the ballot in the Conservative Party leadership race, winning more than half of the votes.

Johnson is seen to be so far ahead of his rival, Jeremy Hunt, that the biggest drama in the race is whether he’ll somehow fumble his lead.

Hunt tweeted “don’t bottle it” on Saturday and attached a letter urging Johnson to take part in a series of televised debates so that the two finalists’ plans, policies and character can be tested.