Lee Anderson MP was appointed deputy chair of the Tory party by Rishi Sunak yesterday. The ‘Red Wall Rottweiler’ regularly walks into controversy, but assures fellow Tories that he is “gonna take this role really seriously”.
But will Anderson provide the harmony Sunak needs? We last ran into him at a Policy Exchange event in the summer. Sunak, then chancellor, gave a speech full of hints about his plans (he resigned a few days later, triggering Boris Johnson’s downfall). But Anderson told us he wasn’t interested in Sunak and hadn’t been paying attention.
He backed Liz Truss when she fought Sunak for the keys to Number 10. Anderson was a Labour councillor until 2018, so he is used to switching sides.
Anderson and new chair Greg Hands have a job on: Bloomberg reports they need to raise £25 million in the next year following a donor exodus.
Double vision for Prince Andrew
Prince Andrew’s Newsnight interview is getting the Netflix treatment, with Gillian Anderson playing Emily Maitlis and Rufus Sewell the Prince. The show is based on a book by Sam McAlister, the Newsnight producer who got the interview. Maitlis has been trying to make her own film version of events. The ex-BBC star hasn’t yet posted online about the Netflix show, and may need some stars to save her own TV plans. Has anyone got a number for Cate Blanchett or Hugh Grant?
Barefoot blues from Florence
Singer Florence Welch is back on tour after a broken foot meant postponed shows last year. The Florence + the Machine star has done it before: she likes to perform barefoot, and slipped on stage this time. But she won’t be putting any boots on, as it would upset her rhythm. “I think it would be dangerous for me to start performing in shoes at this point,” she says. We’re not so sure.
Pressure is on for Science Museum
Protesters Fossil Free London held a sit-in at the Science Museum on Saturday over a decision to name a children’s space “The Equinor Gallery” after the Norwegian oil firm planning a new field in the North Sea. Last month the Royal Opera in Covent Garden ended a deal with BP, leaving the Science Museum and British Museum as the last two London cultural landmarks with fossil fuel funding.
Last night in town
Hollywood stars Julianne Moore and Sebastian Stan were at the BFI Southbank for a screening of their revenge thriller Sharper last night. Dermot O’Leary and his producer wife Dee went along too. At Marylebone’s Home House, presenter Laura Whitmore, model Faiith Henson and designer Tatiana Alida Carrelet had an early Valentine’s dinner with Lulu Guinness. Actor Zoë Kravitz, meanwhile, joined some influencers from around the world at an event for perfume Black Opium by YSL Beauté.
