Angela Rayner’s chances of ascending to No 10 have been dealt a possibly fatal blow: she’s been endorsed by Jacob Rees-Mogg. The former MP told Politics Inside Out that the ex-deputy PM would be the leader the Tories fear most. “She has something about her that appeals to voters,” he said almost apologetically, knowing that his compliments are Kryptonite for left-wing firebrands. The Mogg once told a Labour frontbencher that he was impressive and that the Tory was singing his praises to all and sundry. “I know you are,” the Labour man replied. “I wish you’d shut up because it’s very unhelpful.”
The perma-suited Mogg also dispensed some fashion advice. “Casual wear,” he says, “means probably a tweed coat rather than a suit coat, but certainly always a tie.” However, he’s made one concession to the modern world. “I don’t quite have the courage to broadcast my GB News programme at 8pm in black tie.”
Jacob Rees-Mogg
LUCY YOUNG FOR THE TIMES
It’s the Lords work
Peers are going to have to get used to working on a Friday. The advent of the weekend is often a day off for lords, but the battle over the assisted dying bill has now seen the upper house scheduled to sit on eight Fridays between January and April. This will wear out the red benches as they wade through the more than 1,000 amendments which have been laid down, mainly in an attempt to filibuster the bill. “It’s murder,” said one aghast bishop, but they did find an ermine lining to this cloud. “The extra attendance money will help foot our newly increased tax bill.”
Service with a song
Our servicemen and women keep the nation safe through careful judgment, valorous conduct and, it appears, the ability to sing the hits on a boozy night out. The former first sea lord, Lord West, says that his service in the Far East was very much dependent on his skills at karaoke. “You would go to a really big formal thing with the head of the host’s navy and then you would be expected to sing — it was quite extraordinary,” West told the House of Lords Podcast. His chosen song was House of the Rising Sun. One wonders if that title means something different in Japan.
Lord Robertson, the former secretary-general of Nato, says that a sense of humour is necessary to survive in the job. It helped the Scot to break the ice with Americans, joking about the difference between the mafia in New York and Glasgow. “The New York mafia make you an offer you can’t refuse. The Glasgow mafia make you an offer you can’t understand.”
Underdressed for success
Hatchards bookshop was heaving on Wednesday night for their annual Christmas authors evening. The former medic turned writer Adam Kay was in attendance, but hinted to a diary elf that there was somewhere else he would rather be. Asked if he preferred writing books or working on plays in the rehearsal room, Kay opted for the former. “I can do it in my pyjamas,” he said. He’s not alone in this. Michael Morpurgo writes from bed, and it makes sense. After all, it is the place where dreams are made.