The Londoner: Lords not welcome to camp in St Margaret’s

Westminster Abbey has hit back at the suggestion one of its churches, St Margaret’s, could be used as a temporary home for the Lords, after the idea was floated by a Tory MP.

“St Margaret’s will focus on service to Parliament and public life more broadly,” Duncan Jeffrey, head of communication at Westminster Abbey, told us. “This does not include acting as a temporary home for the House of Lords”. St Margaret’s is opposite the Houses of Parliament and comes under the umbrella of Westminster Abbey.

Sir Bernard Jenkin, the MP behind the proposal, told us his plan to move the Lords while the chamber is refurbished “could prove much cheaper than closing and converting the QE2 conference centre,” adding: “There has been no hostility to this suggestion.”

It seems, though, there has not been a formal approach. Jeffrey said: “We have not been consulted about any proposal.” He also pointed out that “Westminster Abbey, of which St Margaret’s is a part, values its relationship with the Palace of Westminster and particularly with the lower house. For very good reason St Margaret’s is known as ‘the parish church of the House of Commons’.” Tanks off the lawn, please.

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Art critic Waldemar Januszczak has cryptically thanked his Twitter followers for their support “over my fate at the BBC” — hinting at a lost gig — before adding: “Yes, it’s true that going to Oxbridge seems to be compulsory for BBC art presenters — and I didn’t.” But BBC Arts firmly tell us their presenters come “from many different backgrounds”. Surely it's not just sour grapes?

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SIXTIES singer Petula Clark recalls her early days in France promoting her music. “I had a stinking cold — and I could hardly speak, let alone sing,” she told Record Collector Magazine. She went to a pharmacy “and they gave me suppositories. I said, ‘What are you meant to do with these?’ ‘Ah, you put zem ...’ I said, ‘I’ve got a throat problem!’ Anyway, it worked.” Zut alors.

SW1A

Dominic Cummings is seeing his dreams come true. He will soon lord it over “co-working desks” and screens showing “real time performance data” in his new digs of 70 Whitehall. Last year on his blog Cummings praised the Nasa control room, which is set up “so that all relevant people can see relevant data and models”. He also singled out the Large Hadron Collider control centre for similarly making the room itself a tool. Systems to launch spaceships — but are they any good at stopping a school exams cock-up?

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LORD Bethell confidently trills that though he “fluffed” his A-levels that taught him “how to hustle” as well as “grit and perseverance”. Inspiring stuff. What the health minister didn’t mention was that he’s a hereditary peer. That old chestnut — the pre-birth hustle.

Róisín and Munroe surf the heatwave

SINGER Róisín Murphy said she was “happy in the extreme, servicing the machine ... should have full MOT and good to go in a couple of weeks”. Tropical temperatures: best experienced on a beach. Jamelia showed off a strong look, as did Suranne Jones, and model and activist Munroe Bergdorf shared a snap “before I left the house and melted”.