Londoner's Diary
Dominic Cummings gave a lucid account of recent political history at the Covid-19 inquiry this week, delivering his remarks with such haste that he was repeatedly asked to slow down. It’s no wonder Cummings is in some demand as an after-dinner speaker.
While he doesn’t command the price of his former boss Boris Johnson, who has raked in at least a million for speeches since leaving office, Cummings too could make a pretty penny. According to a source familiar with his booking agency, he can charge up to £35,000 for work on this side-hustle.
Along with insights into recent UK politics, in which he played a leading role, Cummings also speaks, writes and advises on management solutions, political communications and modern European history (last year he gave a speech on the career of Otto von Bismarck).
Cummings has long traded as Siwah Ltd. The company's name refers to a desert oasis in Egypt. In the 4th century BC, Alexander III of Macedon led an army to Siwah to obtain its famed oracle. The company's latest accounts show that it holds assets of £90,000. Dominic Cummings was contacted for comment.
The 'In' crowd got back together last night
Last night Tate Britain played host to the great and good of the politics and business worlds. At Finsbury consulting group’s winter party, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt was nominally top of the bill but we detected more interest in Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves. Even inattentive observers of politics can catch a changing wind.
Allegations of plagiarism, which last week cast a shadow over Reeves’ judgement, seemed a lifetime ago as she hobnobbed with City bigwigs. Finsbury’s global co-chair Roland Rudd, a Labour backer, compèred. Rudd once hoped to keep Britain in the EU and chaired the "People’s Vote" campaign for a second referendum.
Other Remainers like Craig Oliver, David Cameron’s old comms chief, were at the party last night. Do they have high hopes for a potential Labour government? Rudd’s sister Amber, former home secretary, was also spotted.
