The Londoner: Philip May's fears over 2017 election

Philip May, steadfastly silent for the two-and-a-half years his wife has been Prime Minister, has had his strong views revealed by a senior Downing Street aide this morning.

Chris Wilkins, former director of strategy at No 10, says Philip had the “largest reservations of anyone” when it came to calling the 2017 snap general election, which lost the Conservatives their majority. Wilkins was one of four advisers who persuaded May to call the election, hoping to capitalise on their wide lead in the polls. But it was Philip they were “really trying to make the case to”, he says.

Philip May is said to have told advisers that they had “to understand what a big risk it was for them as a couple”, warning that “it had taken them years to get to the position of being in No 10 and we were asking them to put that all at risk”, according to Wilkins. The use of “them” is interesting: Theresa May previously criticised deputy chairman James Cleverly for asking whether Philip forms part of her “decision-making process”, saying: “I don’t think he is part of my decision-making process, he’s my husband.”

Wilkins describes the day advisers waited for “Downing Street to largely empty of everyone else” before making individual pitches to both Mays.

Talking to Anushka Asthana for her Today in Focus podcast, he went on to say that the PM’s deliberate choice to cut Labour out of the Brexit decision-making process back then has come back to haunt her today. “The moment the election became the Conservative Party and the Prime Minister taking complete ownership of not only Brexit but what came across as a hard-line strident Brexit, was the moment that everything began to go wrong.” Now she has an “incredibly difficult” task in reaching “across the aisle”: “What we didn’t want to do, was privatise the problem of Brexit within the Conservative Party and that’s subsequently what’s happened.”

Cabinet odd couple in Brexit 'lockstep'

Amber Rudd and Michael Gove are — it is being newly observed — finding “a lot of common ground” in Cabinet, despite being on opposite sides of the Brexit debate – Work and Pensions Secretary Rudd is a Remainer, Gove, the Environment Secretary, a Leaver. Nonetheless they are described as in “lockstep” and “two to watch”, by Cabinet colleagues. One minister says they “often agree in Cabinet” meetings and describes them as “friends who work well together.” Will they find us a way out of this interminable Brexit hell? As yet, they “don’t have a separate plan”.

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A moment of levity as Michael Gove wound up for the Government in the motion of confidence in the Commons yesterday — the BBC subtitle system had a minor meltdown. “No way can this country ever,” Gove said via the subtitles, “allow Batman to be our prime minister.”

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Away from Brexit, Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy makes no secret of her love of indie music (she is particularly unkind when it comes to the merits of maintream Coldplay). It turns out now she’s also a DJ with an iron heart. Ahead of an event she is appearing at this week, she releases her manifesto: “My rule for DJing is no requests and no repeats”.

Ballet darling Rojo pops the ENB corks

Champagne was flowing last night at a drinks reception at the English National Ballet prior to a performance of Manon.

Actors Andy Serkis and Vicky McClure, and singer Nicola Roberts were welcomed by Tamara Rojo, the company’s artistic director and lead principal. A darling of the ballet world, Rojo is well used to entertaining famous guests: the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have previously told the Spanish ballerina that their daughter Princess Charlotte “absolutely loves” dancing, as did her late grandmother, Princess Diana.

At a reception in late 2017, Prince William opened up to Rojo about his mother’s love of dancing, telling her: “She was a fantastic dancer. We’ve been going through her music collection recently and there’s some quite eclectic stuff in there. She was elated by the skill.” It runs in the family: the Duchess of Cambridge has disclosed that Charlotte is taking dance lessons, and mother and daughter attended the Royal Ballet’s The Nutcracker this Christmas.

SW1A

Jeremy Corbyn is coming under internal Labour Party pressure from across the spectrum to commit to a second referendum. The Left-wing Socialist Europe Policy Commission has written to party general secretary Jennie Formby asking her to hold “an emergency conference” or “an urgent online survey” on this issue. Emergency conference motions have been circulating Constituency Labour Parties since December, but now the campaign — with backing from the more ‘moderate’ Labour People’s Vote group — is ramping up. One source told us that the online poll was their preferred option as a special conference would “be harder to win” because of union presence.

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Rosena Allin-Khan, the Tooting MP, has claimed that “Arlene Foster doesn’t have a parliamentary pass”. She tweeted a picture as evidence. “She’s wearing a visitor badge.” Or, for Mean Girls fans, “She doesn’t even go here!”

Hampstead is just loadsamoney now

Hampstead ain’t what it used to be, former resident Harry Enfield bemoaned at a Primrose Hill Community Association fundraiser this week.

“It is ridiculously different now. I don’t think anyone ever had a Bentley in Hampstead,” the comedian recalls.

“No one would have an ostentatious car. You might as well have had a big sign in the back saying, ‘I don’t read books.’”

Enfield has since fled to Notting Hill but had some good times in NW3. “It was very nice living here. Helen Fielding now owns my house.”