He smiled, continued, “Flights are much cheaper on Tuesdays.”
From Russia with love
After Mikhail Gorbachev’s death on Tuesday, much has been said about how his famous visit to London in 1984 was meticulously planned by the intelligence services. But I hear the trip was actually inspired by none other than John Redwood, the Tory MP who was working in Mrs Thatcher’s policy unit at the time. Redwood found a few quotes from the Russian leader that suggested he was an unlikely free-market supporter who wanted to liberate the Soviet Union. “I took the quotes to Margaret and read them and she said they must have come from Ronnie Reagan,” he recalls. “We went into the State Department and invited him, and that’s how it all started.”
House-hunting Boris
Rumors abound about where Boris Johnson will live when he leaves Downing Street. No 10’s spin doctors remain under wraps, but the latest whispers center on a £3.75m home in Herne Hill. One might think Lefty South London wouldn’t be the outgoing Prime Minister’s first choice, but pictures from the estate agent suggest the interior design is very much to Mr and Mrs Johnson’s liking. How could they fit into a house that already has a gold-upholstered living room?
Dude, where’s my car?
All the talk of how Boris will return from Balmoral after meeting the Queen on Tuesday brings to mind a story Lord St John of Fosley loved to tell. Having been sacked as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster by Margaret Thatcher, Lord Fosley took his seals of office in his official car to Buckingham Palace to return them. When he got out, the car was gone. Bewildered, he said to the police officer on duty, “Where did my car go?” With a straight face the officer replied, “And what car would that be then, sir?”
Lame spotting
Has old age mellowed even Irvine Welsh? The Scottish novelist, below, said this week that he “hates the national treasure”, claiming he is “still an evil bastard”, even if no one takes him seriously anymore. However, when asked by a member of the How To Academy audience about any recent antics, the Trainspotting author admitted he’s ‘not used to drinking anymore’ and that the last time he went out he cracked his head open and woke up singing David Bowie. in A&E. Even tamer is the karaoke song. “My role model is a Sheena Easton combo. I’m doing Modern Girl, 9 to 5 and For Your Eyes Only,” she said.
Come on you reds
Yesterday might have been Sir Keir Starmer’s 60th birthday, but he’s still quite useful on the football pitch. The Labor leader ruled it out in an hour-long five-a-side with his staff in south London on Tuesday night and “calmly considered a penalty midway through the first half”, according to a terrified official. Sir Keir apparently describes himself as “a bit of a midfield general”. What do they say about center control?
Migration crisis; What immigration crisis?
Foreign travel never ends for the Home Office’s top civil servant, Matthew Rycroft, who – fresh from a tour of New Zealand and Australia – found himself on a diplomatic spree in Fiji this week. Government successes question whether now is the right time to be wandering around Oceania meeting various officials, given the ongoing migration crisis in the English Channel. The Home Office insists it is advancing “strategic objectives across a number of our priorities”, but the talk in Whitehall is that it is to move to the Foreign Office. Is this the greatest job interview in history?
