Londoner's Diary: Kids Company boss Camila is so off the wall

Camila Batmanghelidjh
Carl Court / Staff
10 November 2015

The writing has been on the wall for Camila Batmanghelidjh for several months now — her portrait no longer is. Artist Dean Marsh’s painting of the Kids Company founder reclining in her trademark robes on a sofa, pictured, has hung in the National Portrait Gallery from 2009 until late this summer. But as reports circulated this weekend that she may have the award of her CBE examined, so her portrait has been quietly removed.

And there are no intentions for it to be rehung. The simultaneous Giacometti and Simon Schama exhibitions have led to the temporary relocation of many portraits in the ground-floor permanent collection of contemporary portraits, of which Batmanghelidjh’s is one.

Funnily enough, it has not been loaned to another collection in the interim — and neither will it be back on display for some time. A spokesman for the NPG informs us that “in January, there will be a Vogue exhibition, which will take up the whole ground floor, so there are no plans for it to come back”. The gallery’s lack of exhibition space can’t be helped, of course, but it seems ratherconvenient that the re-hang should occurr just as Batmanghelidjh’s public profile has come into question.

Artist Marsh, who was commissioned by the NPG to paint the portrait as part of the prize for having won the BP Portrait Award in 2005, has yet to comment on the removal of his work.

There are also two photographic portraits of Alan Yentob, chair of Kids Company trustees and BBC creative director, in the NPG collection, but they are tucked away in the archive.

***

Leaving the EU would risk “Britain’s national security”, Mr Cameron warned today. Heard that before. In April he said his party would “offer security at every stage of your life”. Post-election, George Osborne delivered a “Budget that puts security first”, and warned that Jeremy Corbyn would “[threaten] our nation’s future security”. Cameron agreed, saying after Corbyn became Labour leader he was a “threat to national security”. In October, the Tory conference slogan was “security, stability, opportunity”, and Cameron’s speech mentioned “security” six times. After a brief respite, Osborne spoke of his planned Whitehall cuts yesterday, saying “there is no economic security, no national security [...] when you lose control of the public finances”.

Oh, enough already.

Strictly just for Dames and Golden Girls

A flotilla of inspirational women descended on the Bush Theatre last night to get in the swing, literally, for Diana Melly’s new book, Strictly Ballroom. Melly, wife of the late singer George, has thrown herself into ballroom dancing and was rumba-ing with her twirling partner, Dino. Dame Joan Bakewell, writer Polly Devlin and publisher Carmen Callil were among the crowd, and the Golden Girls were fizzing with their antics. “Darling, I’ve been thinking. You should be in the House of Lords,” a friend called over to Bakewell. “I already am!” Joan pointed out.

Pen is mightier than the barbs

The withering putdowns occasionally found in AA Gill’s restaurant reviews have made him enemies but a healthy crowd of friends were on hand last night as the critic, pictured above with Jemima Khan, launched his new book, Pour Me: A Life, at Daunt Books in Marylebone.

Other guests included Gill’s partner Nicola Formby, restaurateur André Balazs and American in London Monica Lewinsky.

Gill has come out with humdingers such as “the baby back ribs were like eating the evidence in a war-crimes trial” and compared a salmon dish to a “soggy pink scatter cushion”. Reviews for his book have, thankfully, been kinder.

Now it's the Wo-Man Booker Prize

The great and good of the literary world were at the British Library last night to mark the retirement party of Booker Prize Foundation chair Jonathan Taylor. Writers Stephen Kelman and Frances Osborne were among the guests, as was Helena Kennedy QC, pictured, who will succeed Taylor on what will now be an all-female panel.

“This truly formidable regiment of women ensures the Man Booker prizes remain in very strong and capable hands,” Taylor said. “But it does leave a lingering thought that it may one day be time to establish a men-only literary prize for male writers, male judges and, yes, possibly even run by men, and certainly based in the Garrick.” (Before anyone goes all #TimHunt, this was a joke).

Baroness Kennedy pointed out that the current team was a bit more rock ’n’ roll. “Now we are a sort of ‘girlband’, with Eve [foundation secretary Eve Smith] on drums, Dotti [PR agency Colman Getty’s Dotti Irving] on bass guitar, Fiammetta [Rocco, from the Economist] on keyboards, Gaby [Wood, literary director] and myself.

“It tells you something about our times that it happened without anyone thinking about it. It was never devised, it happened because its time had come. I don’t think there’ll be a male prize Jonathan, not under our period in office!”

***

The Bad Sex Award has competition for the most dubious honour. At last night’s London Restaurant Festival Awards, Michel Roux Jr chuckled at Chiltern Firehouse taking Oxo Tower’s top spot for “Most Disappointing Cooking” in Harden’s Restaurant Guide. “How long had the Oxo Tower held that place?” 15 years. “You know, they were proud of holding it for so long!”

Gemma's jewellery bond

To Tiffany’s on Old Bond Street, where the iconic jewellery store kicked off the festive season yesterday with Gemma Arterton on hand to unveil its Christmas window.

Gemma Arterton at Tiffany & Co
Stuart C. Wilson / Getty

When asked when she will start her shopping, the actress left us all trailing. “I’ve already done it!” she laughed. “I have a big family and I do go all out at Christmas, so it’s too stressful to go last-minute.”

Arterton was loaned some Tiffany pieces for the occasion and confessed to a weakness for gems — but she can buy her own. “I’m the first person in my family to be able to accumulate diamonds and things like that. But every job I do I buy myself a piece of jewellery to commemorate the job. I like the idea of passing things on.”

Pint of the day: a Greene King IPA. Sales of the British beer are frothing in China, ever since President Xi Jinping was snapped drinking it with David Cameron. Cheers!

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in