Londoner’s Diary: Baroness’s rival exits race for Commonwealth role

Good news for controversial Baroness / How our ambassador to Ukraine remembers London / Helen Mirren’s PRs censor questions / Billie Eilish and room for improvement / ES Mag bash / Bridgen’s blunder / MP on Simpson’s Smithers
Baroness Scotland
PA Wire

BARONESS SCOTLAND is persona non grata for the British Government — so ministers will be unhappy to learn that her main rival for Secretary-General of the Commonwealth has pulled out of the running for the role.

Dr Monica Juma, Kenya’s energy minister, has withdrawn, leaving the way clear for Baroness Scotland to win a second term as Secretary-General.

The London-based baroness has been a controversial figure since it was revealed in 2016 that she had spent thousands of taxpayer pounds on a refurbishment of the grace-and-favour Mayfair home that came with the job. The former Labour minister claimed, among other expenses, £24,000 for a bathroom.

In 2020 she was criticised by the Commonwealth’s Audit Committee for “circumventing” the tendering process after awarding a £250,000 consultancy contract to a friend. Britain and Australia were among the countries which withdrew funding from the Commonwealth.

Last week the Kenyan Foreign Ministry said it was clear some states were “unwilling to provide their support for our candidate”. With just four months until the election, will there be time for a new candidate?

Diplomat dials in to synagogue

MELINDA SIMMONS is Britain’s woman in Ukraine, but her heart may still be in Finchley. Simmons, the ambassador in Kiev, still manages to make time to attend Shabbat at the Finchley Reform Synagogue — via Zoom. Rabbi Miriam Berger explains Simmons even finds time to ask others how their weeks have been, “yet a good or bad week for her could be the difference between war and peace,” Berger tells the Jewish Chronicle. The human side of a geopolitical crisis.

Mayo takes aim at Mirren PR jitters

Dame Helen Mirren (Ian West/PA)
PA Archive

DEBATE over Dame Helen Mirren playing former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir has spooked her PR company, who censored a BBC question on the subject. Late last year, actor Maureen Lipman questioned Mirren playing Meir in an upcoming biopic because she is not Jewish. When the BBC’s Simon Mayo asked Mirren about the role during a chat about her new comedy The Duke last week, Mirren’s PR company insisted it be cut from broadcast. The ploy failed: an irritated Mayo repeatedly referred to the cut throughout the show.

Nobody does it better than Billie?

Variety Hitmakers Presented by Peacock | Girls5eva - Arrivals
Billie Eilish
Getty Images for Variety

BILLIE EILISH sang the most recent Bond theme No Time To Die, but not everyone thinks it was perfect. Eilish’s brother Finneas, also her producer, says of her vocals that “at the time that we made it, it was the best she could do”. He went on: “You get older and you get more practised and you think, ‘Oh, I wish I could have another crack at it’.” Eilish herself said the song was only “as good as we needed it to be”. Her brother then clarified, halting any sibling fisticuffs: “I still think it sounds perfect. It’s just that I know when you’re the one singing it, you always think you could do better.” Phew.

Cocktails pack a punch at ES launch

Londoner’s Diary 21 02 2022

ES Magazine Relaunch Dinner Hosted By Ben Cobb at The Aubrey At The Mandarin Oriental, Hyde Park
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ALEXA CHUNG and boyfriend Orson Fry lit up the Mandarin Oriental on Friday night as ES Magazine celebrated their new look. The Londoner can attest to the punchiness of the cocktails. Chung and Fry were joined by presenter Miquita Oliver, singer Ella Eyre, models Devon Ross and Earl Cave, as well as fashion designer Harris Reed. And model Munroe Bergdorf revealed to us at the bar “I’m in love”, but wouldn’t name her paramour.

SW1A

Andrew Bridgen (House of Commons/PA)
PA Archive

ANDREW BRIDGEN MP failed to charm on ITV’s GMB this morning while debating a doctor over plans to lift Covid restrictions. When the doctor, who was against the move, was cut off by a bad line, the Tory MP smirkingly said “thank goodness”. Host Susanna Reid urged Bridgen to “have some respect”. Not so diplomatic.

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LUKE POLLARD MP welcomed Simpsons character Smithers doing his first gay interview on the front of Attitude magazine, but tells us with a grin: “Smithers had a crush on Mr Burns since his first appearance on The Simpsons, so this is also perhaps a good lesson that sometimes the first person you fancy before you come out isn’t the one for you too.”

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