The curious case of the squatter archbishop

Telegraph

19 hours ago

Justin Welby, former Archbishop of Canterbury, has finally left Lambeth Palace, I can disclose, months after formally standing down as Church of England primate. Welby resigned on January 6 over an alleged cover-up, but was allowed to stay at the palace as he did not own another home in the UK. He finally moved out last month. The two favourites to succeed him are Guli Francis-Dehqani, the Bishop of Chelmsford, and Graham Usher, the Bishop of Norwich. But we won't have a new 'ABC' until October, ahead of an enthronement in November. Catholics took a fortnight to choose a new Pope.
Somerset showdown
Are Brexiteers about to do battle in Somerset? A by-election is a possibility in North East Somerset. Former Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg is thought to be eyeing up the seat that he lost to Dan Norris at last July's election. But hold on! Arron Banks – the 'bad boy of Brexit' who funded Nigel Farage's 2016 referendum campaign – told me on GB News that he too is looking at standing (his home is five miles outside of the constituency). 'It will be a battle of the country house estates,' Bank tells me. Unless Rees-Mogg jumps ship to Reform, of course.
Train to nowhere
BBC political editor Chris Mason took the Caledonian Sleeper back from Glasgow after the Prime Minister's defence announcement this week, retiring to his bunk for the 400-mile journey after a dram in the buffet car. He tells me: 'In the small hours, drifting in and out of sleep, it did feel a remarkably smooth journey compared with my last nocturnal train odyssey'. He put it down to 'advances in rolling stock'. But he was awoken with a bang on the door at 5am. 'Morning gents,' said the guard. 'I'm afraid we are still in Glasgow. There's a tree down on the line.' Mason and his BBC team dashed to Edinburgh and made it back to Westminster for the late morning. 'It is all part of the rich tapestry of political reporting,' he says. 'And we got our money back.'
Licence fee payers will be delighted.
Swedish flag poles
Reform UK wants Union flags to fly from its council flagpoles, but shouldn't the Foreign Office be doing its bit too? Whitehall credit card receipts show that David Lammy's department has just placed a £1,500 order for a new batch of miniature Union Jack flagpoles for official vehicles – from Gothenburg, Sweden. 'It is shocking,' says shadow foreign office minister Andrew Rosindell. 'Surely we should be supporting British flag manufacturers when it comes to purchasing flags of our own nation?'
Farage's new limit
The Spectator's resident magician Mark Mason hosted a quiz this week for the magazine's readers, asking: 'Nigel Farage has a self-imposed limit of how many pints, after which he won't let himself do live TV?' The answer, Mason said, is 'five'. But is that still the case? Farage, 60, tells me: 'Five was always the rule – but I was younger then!' Not even one for the road, Nigel?
No queuing for Jezza
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was spotted last week marching past a queue waiting patiently for Left-wing senator Bernie Sanders at the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster. He entered by the hall's stage door. Was he queue-jumping? His aide tells: 'Bernie and his team invited him backstage beforehand.' Er, OK. Perhaps some Very Important Members of the Proletariat are more equal than others.
Bookish popstar
What do hard-living pop stars do when they enter they grow older? Nick Rhodes, 62, the perma-blond keyboardist in 1980s band Duran Duran, with Simon Le Bon and John Taylor, has accumulated a library of rare tomes. 'I collect fine antique books and have quite the collection,' he told me at Chelsea's Saatchi Gallery. 'It's not generally something I broadcast... With rare books I have my preferences but I'm not saying what they are. If the dealers know it's me they put the price up.'
Imperial record
Peterborough reader Jeremy Havard got in touch after I told how British Weights and Measures Association wants the Commonwealth Games to replace permanently the 1,500 metres with a mile-long race. Havard recounted how his late father John, president of the Cambridge University Athletics Club in the mid-1940s, broke the London University record for the 100 yards. He says. 'Three years later the decision was taken to change the event to 100 metres, which meant he remained the 'current record holder for 100 yards' in perpetuity.' Havard always included the record in his Who's Who entry. And why not?
Peterborough, published every Friday at 7pm, is edited by Christopher Hope. You can reach him at [e-mail]