Boris Johnson at an election count
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)LABOUR candidates are battling for the chance to challenge Boris Johnson for his Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat at the next election. He’s been MP for the north-west London constituency since 2015, but a recent poll by YouGov suggests it could fall to Labour.
So far, none of the potential candidates are household names. They include Danny Beales, a charity worker, and social media manager Panny Antoniou. Johnson’s last opponent, Left-winger Ali Milani, who campaigned for US firebrand Bernie Sanders, is also likely to stand again, with others set to throw their hats into the ring soon.
If Johnson, does stand in Uxbridge again in an election he may also have to contend with ex-Ukip man Nigel Farage, who has been seen nearby.
Farage recently held a town hall-style event with voters in a local pub for GB News, the channel where he is a presenter.
London suits Kim just fine
ACTOR Kim Cattrall was a New Yorker in Sex and the City but called the UK “home” last night. Picking up a Screen Icon prize at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards in Soho, Cattrall said it’s good to “go where you’re celebrated, not where you’re tolerated”, and told the audience she lost her US health insurance during Covid. Cattrall fell out with SATC co-star Sarah Jessica Parker and isn’t in the recent spin-off series.
Tributes to elections maestro
Sir David Butler, who died yesterday aged 98, started in political science early. His biographer, the journalist Michael Crick, says when Butler was a 20-year-old soldier in the Second World War he was asked to speak to the troops, explaining Labour and Tory policies.
Then he invented the concept of “swing” and the “swingometer” in our general elections. Sir John Curtice, his successor as Britain’s election maestro, tells us: “Sir David is rightly known as the father of psephology … He made an unrivalled contribution to our understanding of how Britain votes.” Former BBC political editor Nick Robinson said: “A giant has gone”.
Kerridges on a creative high
CHEF Tom Kerridge supported his wife Beth as she opened her new sculpture exhibition, Femella, in St James’s last night. Also there were Maxim from The Prodigy and C4’s Krishnan Guru-Murthy, back on air this week after being suspended for calling an MP a rude word. In Carnaby Street, presenter Edith Bowman and DJ Norman Jay switched on Christmas lights. And on the Southbank, Love Island’s Danica Taylor took her sister Chantelle to a new eBay shop for ‘pre-loved’ items.
