The Rt Hon Roger Daltrey MP?
What was rock star Roger Daltrey doing in the House of Commons this week? The Who’s lead singer was told off during Prime Minister’s Questions by Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle for applauding a roll-call of Sir Keir Starmer’s failings from the public gallery, where he sat with ex-MP Nigel Evans. Then the My Generation singer headed off to meet Tory leader Kemi Badenoch to discuss a large tax bill for Daltrey’s Teenage Cancer Trust from the hike in employers’ National Insurance Contributions. Perhaps he raised Brexit too? Two years ago Daltrey lamented Brexit’s missed opportunities: “I’m disappointed that we haven’t burned an awful lot of useless regulation.” A second career as a Tory MP surely beckons.
Lost in translation
To the Cavalry and Guards club for the launch of Karen Phillipps’ book Get Carman. Former Tory chancellor Lord Lamont recalled meeting Richard Nixon, the former US president, shortly after Margaret Thatcher’s election as Conservative leader. Nixon told him he had once attended an international summit where Israel’s prime minister Golda Meir dominated the discussions, leading Georges Pompidou, the president of France, to complain that “women talk too much”. Nixon then looked Lamont in the eye and said: “You tell Mrs Thatcher that.” Lord Lamont said: “I never did pass on the message.”
Wombling return
Will the Wombles, who played Glastonbury in 2011, ever perform live again?
“I often think of it,” says their creator Mike Batt. “But do I really want to be in an Orinoco costume throughout Christmas? Not really. It’s very energetic stuff. It’s very, very tiring – even back when I was a 23-year-old. I used to lose half a stone in a week of doing Top of the Pops, Blue Peter and Crackerjack.”
Workplace blues
In the Commons, Tory MP John Glen cheerily asks “if the Prime Minister will reinstall the customer experience machines at Downing Street.” Cabinet Office minister Georgia Gould replies: “No.” The machines typically ask staff “How is work today?” and invite them to push a happy, sad or neutral face in reply. Perhaps Gould is worried she won’t like the answer.
Gillian’s best life
One former Tory MP who’s enjoying life after Parliament is Gillian Keegan, below, the ex-education secretary. She’s been relaxing on a beach in Barbados as her colleagues shiver in Westminster in their shadow Cabinet roles. In one bikini beach snap posted to Instagram, she quips: “When you find yourself casting a shadow instead of becoming a shadow.” Keegan is clearly in no rush to return.
Prue’s Christmas pork
Dame Prue Leith has been sharing her worst Christmas cooking disaster. “One year I had two huge joints of pork, instead of turkey. I put them on at 8am to slow-cook all day,” she told Woman magazine. “Just before serving time, I opened the oven, to find the pork stone-cold and raw. My nephew had turned everything off after making his breakfast fry-up.”
Chopper’s bullseye
It was an honour to represent GB News at the 2024 Paddy Power Westminster Darts Championship, throwing arrows with pros Michael Smith and Fallon Sherrock, in a House of Commons dining room, supporting Prostate Cancer UK. And it was more of a surprise to win, beating politicians including Caroline Nokes, James Frith, Lord Watson and Tonia Antoniazzi. “You’re not an MP,” Frith protested as I picked up the trophy. Next stop: Alexandra Palace and the World Darts Championship, of course.
Clerihew and cry
Thanks to Jonathan Richards, a classical guitarist from north Wales, who sent in some clerihews, rather than limericks, about the early days of the Labour Government. He offered:
Sir Keir Starmer
Is not a charmer
He got rid of Sue Gray
’Cause folk fumed at her pay
And then:
Rachel Reeves
Is driven by peeves
Please do not mention her
To a freezing pensioner
And finally:
Angela Rayner!
It sure does not pain ’er
Or cause heebie-jeebies
To accept lovely freebies
AOB
After Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s LinkedIn edits, I can confirm that mischievous suggestions at Westminster that Sir Keir Starmer never trained as a “barrister” but did work for six months as a “barista” in a coffee shop at Leeds University in the 1980s are unfounded.
Peterborough, published every Friday at 7pm, is edited by Christopher Hope. You can reach him at peterborough@telegraph.co.uk