A TORY peer wrote a secret column extolling the beauty of bullfighting under a pseudonym, The Londoner can reveal.
Lord Hannan of Kingsclere, above, wrote in The Critic as Christopher North, who was described in the magazine as “a writer and journalist with a passion for all matters Iberian and taurine”.
“It is always easy to oppose things that other people do, to rail against barbaric foreigners while chomping burgers,” North wrote in one column. “Eventually, both the burger and the bullfight will go. But, until that day, toreo is the most intense spectator experience out there — as I hope to convince you.”
Hannan, a former Conservative MEP and key figure in the Brexit campaign, has long been a fan of bullfighting. In 2006 he wrote in praise of the practice in the Daily Telegraph.
But, from April 2020, he began using a pen name to write about it. His final column came in November last year. As the Conservatives have become increasingly in favour of animal rights, The Londoner wonders if that’s why he decided not to use his own name. Lord Hannan was approached for comment.
New heights in battle on sexism
Everyday Sexism founder Laura Bates explained the power of storytelling to a Hay Festival Tales event at the Tabernacle in Notting Hill last night. Bates once spoke at a book festival and talked about how a woman who was verbally abused by a man on a roof took his ladder away. “There was a group of women in [the] talk that day and on their way to their next event a man on a roof started shouting at them, so they took his ladder down and ran away.” Lecherous men on rooftops beware.
Obi who Kenobi? Ewan’s fame fail
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George V, the first king of TikTok …
AUTHOR Jeanette Winterson took aim at the royal family last night — by comparing them to teens obsessed with social media.
Winterson said George V’s change of surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor in 1917 was a savvy choice because of the former’s associations with a Kaiser and a Tsar. Speaking at Southwark Cathedral for an event to mark the centenary of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, the Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit writer explained to the audience: “Becoming Windsor might be the first example of the TikTok generation. It’s ‘fake it ‘til you make it’ for monarchs. And it worked.”
SW1A
RISHI SUNAK’s tough time is getting even tougher. As the row rages over his wife Akshata Murty’s non-dom tax status, even ConservativeHome is turning on the Chancellor. Its editor Paul Goodman asks waspishly: “When push comes to shove, does he really get politics?” It would be a sudden fall after a sudden rise.
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MOST job adverts from MPs are rather dull. Not Robert Halfon’s. The Tory is looking for a new comms officer and asks: “Could you become the parliamentary influencer du-jour?” He is seeking a candidate “with a political nose longer than an elephant’s trunk”. Hopefuls must apply by emailing “IAmACommsGuru@gmail.com”.
Twinning! Stars are perfect match
NORMALLY turning up to a party in exactly the same clothes as another guest is fashion hell, but at yesterday’s Damson Madder collection launch it seemed like part of the plan. Jasmine Hemsley, Lianne La Havas and Iwana Crystal were among those were unbothered by matching at Rochelle Canteen. Charlotte de Carle, AJ Odudu and Whinnie Williams were at a Shein event, while actor Freddie Fox popped along to a drinks reception for the new cast of Cabaret.
