Who’s that gesturing at the television? It’s Sir Ed Davey, of course, the leader of the Liberal Democrats. As part of a drive to get his name out there and woo Middle England before the next election, Sir Ed yesterday invited a photographer to watch the Women’s World Cup semi-final with him in a pub.
The photo, proudly posted to his social media feeds, was the result. Didn’t the snapper get in the way of the TV? Some were charmed, others called it staged. Yet more likened Davey’s raised fist and grimace to Steve Coogan’s Alan Partridge character or a Scooby Doo villain chiding the meddling Mystery Gang.
Davey’s not the only politician to try the homely football photoshoot. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who plays five-a-side every week and is in no sense a plastic fan, struggled to look genuine when he watched the 2020 Euros. He posed at his local pub in an England shirt with a pint of lager as a photographer skulked in the corner.
During last year’s controversial Qatar World Cup, Starmer went for a more work-a-day open-necked shirt, watching the England v Wales match at a gay bar in Bloomsbury where he sat on a table with a football decorated with LGBTQ+ colours. He wasn’t snapped at yesterday’s semi-final, but we wonder what photographic mastery Sunday’s final might bring.
Rayner’s road trip to rebuild Red Wall
There are reports of slinking selfie queues up in the North this week as Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner embarks on a road trip to get away from Westminster. On her visit to Hartlepool yesterday there were reportedly lines of fans waiting to take a picture with the pugnacious Left-winger. Originally from Stockport in Greater Manchester, Rayner, left, is seen by some as the yin to Sir Keir Starmer’s yang. She decided to forego a holiday this year in favour of a camper van trip around the former Red Wall. She seems to be getting a warm reception. It was in Hartlepool that Labour lost an entirely winnable by-election in 2021, when Boris Johnson was still riding high. Rayner took the fall and was sacked by Starmer as chair of the party. How things change. If the polls hold, Labour will likely take back the seat along with many others in the North at the next election.
Meghan has cause to celebrate
Meghan Markle is looking happy lately. Why? Well it seems her birthday celebrations are still going, two weeks after the fact. Yesterday she enjoyed a “belated bday” lunch with friends from the California-based lifestyle brand High Brow Hippie. And there’s another reason she might be feeling chipper. It turns out she and Harry could still keep their His and Her Royal Highness titles in America despite being stripped of the designations on the Buckingham Palace website following their fall-out with the rest of the Royal Family. The letters patent, which allow them this privilege, were never actually voided and the King seems to have no intention of changing that. Always read the small-print. In 2020, the Palace announced that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would have to drop their titles given they had stopped being “working royals”. This elided the fact that plenty of non-working royals still use HRH. Harry and Meghan have another Netflix programme out this month. Heart of Invictus will focus on the Invictus Games, the international sporting event for injured ex-servicemen and women thought up by Prince Harry.
