Londoner's Diary
Lord Cameron, current Foreign Secretary and former prime minister, can reasonably claim to have been the poshest occupant of 10 Downing Street since the Earl of Home. But a career in politics meant he had to give up elements of the good life. In 2008 for example, when he was Leader of the Opposition, Cameron resigned from his beloved private members’ club White’s because it refused to admit women as members. He made that discovery about its membership policy rather late in the day, especially considering his father was on the board, but fair’s fair.
Ever since, Cameron has been searching for a suitable new base in Clubland. Now he has found one, The Londoner can reveal, at Pratt’s. The St James’s club, often described as the most exclusive in London, is so old-fashioned that it doesn’t have a website and staff are uniformly referred to as “George”.
Pratt’s only began admitting women as members in May of last year. The decision caused a ruckus among members because no ballot was taken and there were complaints that equality of the sexes had been “imposed” from above.
But with Pratt’s now open to female members, Cameron seems to have stuck with the principled stand he took as Tory leader in 2008. Or has he? A look at the membership rolls shows that the Foreign Secretary was admitted as a member in 2020, during his political hiatus and three years before women were permitted at the club.
Cameron's other Clubland associations include Mark's, which gave him free membership in 2015 while he was still PM, and 5 Hertford Street, where he was spotted smoking a cigarette last year.
A little close to the Bone?
There has been a serene changing of the guard in the true-blue seat of Wellingborough. Incumbent MP Peter Bone was suspended from the Commons and ejected from the Conservative parliamentary party in October after the standards watchdog ruled that he had bullied staff (Bone denies this). At a selection meeting to replace him last night, Tory members voted overwhelmingly for local Northamptonshire candidate Helen Harrison, pictured. Harrison also happens to be Bone’s long-term partner. Coincidence? Such a close association with the Conservative candidate might stop Bone standing as an independent in the seat.
Kwarteng's sluggish side hustle
Former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has busied himself eclectically since leaving the Treasury under a cloud after the September 2022 mini-budget. There have been unrepentant television interviews about his 38-day reign as chancellor and fiery opinion pieces telling the Tories to cut tax. Kwarteng has also set up a consultancy based in Hove. The firm is called Soracte, after one of the Odes of Horace. When the Londoner tried to check in on how Kwarteng’s firm is doing, it turned out that its confirmation statement is weeks overdue. Other political ghosts are having more luck with their side hustles. In her latest financial statement, former PM Theresa May reports holding £1.5 million in net assets, with much of the money apparently gained from the public-speaking circuit.
