Londoner’s Diary
Congratulations to George Osborne, formerly of this parish, who is expecting another baby. We understand that Mr Osborne’s wife, Thea Rogers, is pregnant with their third child.
The couple wed in July this year at a ceremony in Bruton, Somerset, nicknamed "the Notting Hill of the West". The wedding service, at St Mary's Church, was briefly disrupted when a protester threw orange confetti over the newly weds.
Mr Osborne, 52, is now chair of the British Museum and was formerly chancellor of the exchequer and editor of the Evening Standard. This will be his third child with Ms Rogers, 40. Their first, Beau, was born in 2021. A second arrived in 2022. Three under three could prove a handful.
Osborne also has a son and a daughter, 20 and 22, from his previous marriage to author Frances Osborne.
Rogers formerly served as Osborne’s chief of staff when he was chancellor. As one of his key advisers she overhauled his image and put him on an intermittent fasting diet. Before entering politics, Rogers worked as a producer at the BBC and, before marrying Osborne, was as a senior executive at Deliveroo. Rogers worked for Labour on the party's 2005 election campaign before changing her allegiance to the Conservatives when she was hired to help Osborne at the Treasury.
Attendees at the couple’s July wedding included former prime minister David Cameron, former Bank of England governor Mark Carney and cabinet minister Michael Gove. Reality TV star and former minister Matt Hancock was also in attendance. Rogers' former BBC colleagues Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel were also there.
The Spectator searches high and low for new Taki
Know any sharp writers with a talent for expensive living? The Spectator magazine is searching for one, as its long-serving writer
Taki Theodoracopulos, author of the “High Life” column, has left the building.
Taki was recently given a 12-month suspended prison sentence in Switzerland for an attempted rape in 2009. His column has not appeared in the last two issues of the magazine, and it was reported he “resigned” from the job. Taki had been writing the column since 1977, covering his life eating in fine restaurants and mixing with society in the Swiss resort Gstaad, London, and New York. The latest Spectator, without his words in it, is out today. It has a “No Life” column by writer Lloyd Evans.
The paper is also lacking a “Low Life” writer, after the sad passing of their much-loved scribe Jeremy Clarke, who died from cancer this year. We understand the mag is inviting readers to pitch them new “life” columns. Do send in yours...
Rayner’s big move falls flat at PinkNews awards
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner’s speech was a bit of a damp squib at the rowdy PinkNews awards, held at W2’s Royal Lancaster Hotel last night.
Rayner tried to make a big statement, saying Labour would enact a conversion therapy ban that is fully “trans-inclusive”, unlike the Tories. But her words were undercut by news that PM Rishi Sunak is planning exactly the same thing, which he announced almost while she was on stage. Rayner’s party have been accused of “flip-flopping” on trans rights in recent months.
Rayner also said that the Tories “pit different groups against each other”, which got some agreement in the room. We were sitting near Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt’s twin brother James, who said that this is “the most anti-LGBT government I’ve seen in my lifetime”. He will vote Labour at the next election.
Elsewhere, Tory MP Caroline Nokes, who chairs Parliament’s women and equalities committee, said Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s plans to ban trans women from women-only hospital wards are “hugely problematic”.
