Londoner’s Diary: Blame Boris Johnson’s woes on Chris Bryant’s missed millions

THE MP who got the ball rolling on Boris Johnson’s nightmare period could have been “a very different person” if he had made a different decision three decades ago.

Labour’s Chris Bryant, the chairman of the Standards Committee whose speech on the Owen Paterson affair crystallised the mess Johnson had led his party into, tells us why he turned down the chance to become a multi-millionaire. Bryant explained that three female relatives wanted him to to inherit their estate in the Eighties, which “ran to several million pounds”. “I said I was very grateful, but it would make me a different person from the person I wanted to be,” he told us. “In the end, I think the money went to a much better cause, the Boys Clubs of Scotland and a Glasgow Housing Association.”

“I have occasional twinges of regret but it’s only money, you can’t take it with you when you go,” he said.

Most of the money came from Sir Alexander Gracie, one of Britain’s most distinguished naval architects. Former priest Bryant joked previously to the BBC’s Nick Robinson that his husband was “furious” with him for the decision. And maybe Johnson too.

Everyone’s an art critic, even the dog

RUSSELL TOVEY’S dog Rocky is usually well-behaved and poses in front of the actor and Talk Art presenter’s favourite pieces. But even good boys err. When Rocky joined Tovey at artist Matt Connor’s US studio, the occasion got the better of him. Tovey, who has released his book, Talk Art, tells us he turned around to see Rocky “had his leg cocked” against a framed artwork. Afterwards “we did manage to clean it with a sponge”, Tovey said, adding: “I’m just left with the trauma of it. Ah, the glamour.

Festive tune hasn’t provided a crib

POOR Justin Hawkins, the flowing haired frontman of The Darkness. He says their festive hit Christmas Time is great, but only up to a point. “Let’s just say it’s kept me in sports cars,” Hawkins tells Rolling Stone UK, moping: “It hasn’t bought me a house… I would give my right nut — and the left one actually — for another one like that.”

Half-baked verdict almost lost TV hit

SUE PERKINS is a star of the screen thanks largely to her work on Bake Off, but things would not have turned out like that if she had got her way. TV exec Janice Hadlow once approached Perkins and said: “I’ve got a documentary — they’re making some programme about food. Do you want to do it? Because if you don’t, we probably won’t make it.” Perkins tells the Full Disclosure podcast she looked it and said: “‘No’. ‘Are you sure?’ ‘No’… and that was Bake Off. So I said no twice, before the wisdom of Janice Hadlow kicked in.” Sometimes, it’s best not to back your own judgement.

London life is a cabaret at Christmas

MODEL Ikram Abdi Omar and stylist Mason Smillie attended a Sabina Bilenko Couture event at Christie’s Auction House last night. Another model, Ajak Deng, made it to the do as well. Across town, radio presenter Zoe Ball watched Cabaret in the Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre. Meanwhile, TV chef Ainsley Harriott and Ball’s Radio 2 colleague Sara Cox attended a performance of Pantoland at the London Palladium.

SW1A

TORY MP Siobhan Baillie tells us juggling parenthood and politics isn’t all hard work. After the birth of the PM’s daughter yesterday, Baillie, a new mum herself, told us: “The best thing about having a baby at home after long days in Parliament is having somebody sensible to talk to that can’t really talk back yet.” A rare delight.

--

ANGELA EAGLE is a Labour MP with a dry wit. After a legal commentator pointed out that the Government’s “crime week” started with “the Prime Minister dressing up as a police officer and ended with the governing party being fined by the Electoral Commission”, Eagle deadpanned: “They took it literally”.

Read More

Foreign Office top official ‘regrets’ holidaying during Afghan evacuation

Letter suggests PM’s involvement in Nowzad evacuation, despite No 10 denials

People have a ‘right’ to elect racists and misogynists, says Tory MP