Cliché is close but no cigar in Commons gay banter
After the Supreme Court's trans ruling, many Pride events have banned political parties this year, so some MPs made do with a Monday night debate on the subject. Cue a bravura performance from the arts minister Sir Chris Bryant, below, who was in his element as he began: 'The Daily Mail once referred to me as an 'ex-gay vicar'. I am an ex-vicar, but the other stuff is coming along quite nicely.' He marked both progress made and the need for more, challenging stereotypes as he went. 'Not all gay men like musicals — I don't understand this, but I've met a few — and apparently not all lesbians enjoy tennis or smoke cigars,' he said. At which, the LGBT MP Rachel Taylor, an ex-line judge at Wimbledon, felt compelled to intervene. In a moment of pure Carry On Commons, she said: 'I would like to put on record that I have never enjoyed a cigar.'
An at-first disappointing and then disconcerting sign appeared on Monday at parliament's Jubilee Cafe, which was spotted by Sidney Baginsky. It notified diners of an early closure for a Westminster Hall event, but then added 'we apologies for the incontinence this may cause' (sic). Better not ask what it is in the food that would normally prevent this.
With innumerable challenges facing the nation, readers will be reassured to know that our representatives are keeping their eyes on the important things. Politico reports that MPs are obsessively sharing the new Westminster Spotlight League table — a measure of how often they are being mentioned in major publications. Reform are punching above their weight, with two MPs and an ex-MP in the top ten. Kemi Badenoch is the only Tory in that group, while the PM comes third behind Nigel Farage and the chancellor Rachel Reeves. A reminder that not all publicity is good publicity.
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick came 11th in that list, but he deserves a mention for his completion of the Three Peaks Challenge last weekend, in which he climbed Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in 24 hours (he completed it with ten minutes to spare). Speaking to PopCon UK on Monday night, he said he was 'a little achy and had eaten a lot of Kendal mint cake'. He may be a climber, but will he get another chance to make a final assault on the summit of the Tory greasy pole?
The novelist Tracy Chevalier doesn't often have the pleasure of her husband's company when she researches her novels, which, of late, have been set in places such as Dorset and suburban Washington. She told the Oldie literary lunch that, in a rare exception, he agreed to join her for a jaunt to Winchester, but it seems that Mr Chevalier is hard to please. As they left the ancient and beautiful English city, he said to her: 'Do you think you could set a book some place we actually want to go to?' Happy to report that all is well with the couple, and that Chevalier's latest book is set in Venice.
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