Londoner’s Diary
Angela Rayner is off on her first foreign trip as Deputy Prime Minister this weekend, but unlike Sir Keir Starmer's official visit to Washington DC for the Nato summit, Rayner's excursion has nothing to do with government business. Instead she is flying out to Naples for a friend's wedding. It seems Rayner's new status as a Cabinet minister hasn't dampened her love for a party. Though friends feared that Rayner's top government role might give them trouble at the border, we understand the Italian authorities were relaxed after being pre-briefed about the DPM's weekend getaway. But it could make House of Commons colleagues jealous. The Government has already cut short MPs' summer break to push through legislation after the election. This parliamentary session has been extended by a week, to July 30, and could conceivably cut into August. Might she get a ticking-off for setting a bad example? "Ange is Ange," chuckled a friend who is off to Italy with her. Buon viaggio.
Sue-LBC?
Rumour has it that Suella Braverman may become the latest politician to moonlight as a talk show host. According to esteemed gossip newsletter Popbitch, Braverman was spotted "haunting the LBC studios for a demo this week". We put this to the former home secretary, who was mainly aggrieved by the word "haunting", but did not deny that she is considering a side-hustle in broadcasting.
Nandy’s wardrobe malfunction
It’s a classic bad dream: walking into work and realising you haven’t got any clothes on. But it nearly happened to Labour MP Lisa Nandy when she was summoned to No10 by the PM to be appointed Culture Secretary two weeks ago.
Nandy was watching the ministerial appointments being made on TV in Labour peer Lord Jack McConnell’s parliamentary office. “We then realised that they were being made very very fast, it was an incredibly efficient operation, I don't think anyone expected it,” she said, “and my political adviser said to me, 'you need to get changed.'” She was wearing jogging bottoms and a hoodie.
“I then hot-footed it out the room, changed into my dress, got stuck in my dress, and the zip then broke. My poor old lovely political advisor and Lord Jack McConnell had to cut me out of my dress with a pair of scissors, while my phone rang from the Downing Street switchboard to tell me that I needed to be there in the next ten minutes.” Nandy told the Leading podcast that she considered wrapping herself up in a coat “and just running down Downing Street,” until a friend came to the rescue with a spare suit.
While others might feel nervous walking up to No10, Nandy was zen: “I was just utterly relieved to be fully clothed”.
