Just when Sir Keir Starmer might have thought it safe to dust-off his free suit and polish his gratis spectacles after his mauling by Rosie Duffield over hypocrisy, the ex-Labour MP gives him another pummelling.
Working for him, she says, was like being in an ‘abusive relationship’.
Describing a face-to-face meeting, she adds: ‘He just looks like he does on television, utterly bewildered by being challenged, and affronted as well.
He is astonished that anyone dares to question him.’ How was the pow-wow? ‘Utterly pointless.’
Batten down the hatches, Keir!
Rosie Duffield (pictured) claims working for PM Sir Keir Starmer was like being in an ‘abusive relationship’
Ms Duffield said Sir Keir (pictured) ‘looks like he does on television, utterly bewildered by being challenged, and affronted as well’
Sue Gray‘s defenestration marks the end of her Downing Street control of who gets nominated for honours. This offers a smidgen of hope that Simon Case won’t be the first cabinet secretary to leave without a peerage.
Will Gray get a consolation gong? Speculation that she might get a damehood or even a peerage out of her short stint as the PM’s chief of staff seem to be overblown.
Of the 11 previous chiefs of staff to have held the position since it was created in 1979, several remain gongless – including the longest and shortest serving: Tony Blair‘s Jonathan Powell and Liz Truss‘s Mark Fullbrook.
Sue is unlikely to emulate the success of David Cameron‘s Ed Llewellyn. He got a peerage and became our man in Paris.
Ms Gray’s son Liam Conlon, the Labour MP for Beckenham and Penge, may regret not having made his maiden speech yet.
It is normal in a Commons maiden speech for MPs to talk about their families. With young Conlon not having uttered a word in Parliament, Westminster will be all ears when he finally does so.
Will he defend his controversial mum? Or will heignore the elephant in the room? Awkward either way.
Prue Leith, 84, turns the oven to gas mark ten over the reaction to her ‘sexed-up’ appearance on the London Fashion Week catwalk.
‘My Instagram count jumped by 1,000,’ she says. ‘All sorts of ageing weirdos and heavy-breathers were excited by my skin-tight black latex dress with lacing up the side, long black gloves and Goth make-up.’
Prue Leith, 84, (pictured at the LNER Taste Station event at Newcastle Central Station) turns the oven to gas mark ten over the reaction to her ‘sexed-up’ appearance on the London Fashion Week catwalk.
Calming down, she adds: ‘I’m relieved to hear that this denomination were joined by lots of perfectly normal women who were impressed that I had the courage, at my advanced age, to wear the outfit.’ And so say all of us, Prue!
Ten years after he was forced to give up public performances due to a neck injury, cellist Julian Lloyd Webber tells Radio 3 that the experience was like ‘a bereavement’.
But he doesn’t miss flying with his 330-year-old Barjansky Stradivarius cello, named after Russian virtuoso Alexandre Barjansky.
To avoid damage in aircraft holds, he had to pay for an extra seat for the Barjansky while touring. ‘I thought all those extra cello seats must be eligible for air miles,’ he recalled. ‘Forget it. I filled in the form once.’ Was the cello entitled to duty-free?
