ANGELA Rayner has some advice for Michael Gove to stop him getting bothered on the dancefloor: “wear a wig”.
Speaking at a rowdy British Kebab awards at Westminster’s Park Plaza hotel last night, Labour’s deputy leader said she often wears a disguise when she goes out at night. Gove was snapped showing off his moves in an Aberdeen nightclub recently.
MPs of all stripes came together for the fun annual bash. Sajid Javid, below, who is standing down as an MP soon, has been tipped as a possible Tory candidate for London mayor but the ex-Home Secretary told us he wouldn’t be going for the job
Meanwhile, Nadhim Zahawi, who was sacked as Tory chairman in January over his tax affairs, joked on stage: “I was dealing with the donors... what a pleasure it is to be dealing with the doners”. Rude heckles followed.
Hugh’s lament for arts funding
Mr Brown is wearing a frown. Hugh Bonneville, who plays Paddington’s foster father, says he is peeved by cuts to drama teaching in schools which risks “sidelining an entire generation”. Bonneville, who was educated at public school Sherborne, wants more arts teaching in state schools. “Having the arts as part of the curriculum and part of the school experience is essential,” he told The Stage. “We hack away at it at our peril.” Paddington would be giving MPs a hard stare.
Rewards for journalist
When journalist Isabel Oakeshott helped Matt Hancock write his pandemic diaries book last year, we were puzzled. Oakeshott was a lockdown sceptic, and said she was “not paid a penny” for the work, but “rewarded in other ways”. Other ways? Today’s Telegraph splash, in which Oakeshott leaks thousands of Hancock’s WhatsApp messages she obtained while working on the book, may explain it.
Boothroyd’s other ambition
Betty Boothroyd, who died this week, didn’t always want to be in politics. The admired and feared former Speaker told author Dominic Shelmerdine in a letter that she’d dreamed of being a shop window dresser as a young girl. Meanwhile, Margaret Thatcher’s former press secretary Bernard Ingham, who died last week, said he’d wanted to be a geography teacher. Politics provided a useful back-up.
Big night for the sexy priest
Actor Andrew Scott swapped his “sexy priest” garb from Fleabag for something closer to Aladdin at last night’s Power of Film dinner, hosted by producer Charles Finch, in Mayfair. At the Wyndham’s Theatre the press night for Oklahoma!, transferred from the Young Vic, drew Dawn French. Stars from the show Patrick Vaill and Anna Maria de Freitas went to Sophie’s in Soho for the after party. At the Urban Music Award in Porchester Hall, singer Noeva won a prize for being on The Voice, and rapper Bugzy Malone won the award for Most Inspiring Act.
