The Londoner: Will Wills be our Moscow mascot?

Will Prince William make it to Russia? / Pride parties take over London / Martha Lane Fox rejects Trump's dinner invite / Steve Pound's son chose saint's name / 
The Duke of Cambridge:
Getty Images
6 July 2018

Ministers have basked in the reflected glory of Harry Kane and the England team, but will any make the trip to Russia if they make it to the semi-finals for the first time since 1990, or indeed the final for the first time since 1966?

Last Thursday, The Londoner has learned, ministers were openly discussing whether to lift the boycott of the World Cup, put in place following the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in March. Back then No 10 had announced that royals and ministers would boycott the competition. Australia, Poland, Iceland, Denmark, Japan and Sweden said their ministers would join the UK in a joint snub to Vladimir Putin. Slowly that diplomatic alliance has crumbled.

This week Sweden too capitulated in advance of the match against England in Samara tomorrow. “We were consistent when we said that we would boycott the opening [games] in solidarity with Britain.” Sweden’s Foreign Minister, Margot Wallström said, adding that the the Foreign Office was “consulted” in advance. But diplomatic relations between the UK and Russia have been further strained after two more Wiltshire residents were exposed to Novichok, the nerve agent that nearly killed the Skripals.

This morning the FCO reiterated that there was no change on the Prime Minister’s decision — “the policy continues regardless of how far we go”. So this applies even if England reach the final in Moscow on July 15.

Will Prince William, President of the Football Association, who won his diplomatic colours in the first official royal visit to Israel and the West Bank last month, step in as a non-political ambassador? Sources say it is a possibility, although Kensington Palace officially are following the government line. As Matt Hancock, Culture Secretary, suggested in March: “The best response of all would be for England to go to the World Cup and win it.”

Mayoral handicap

Asked how many mayoral hopefuls submitted nomination papers for Wednesday’s deadline, a Conservative Party spokesperson declined to reply. How many were women? No answer. What is the process for whittling down the names, of which there are at least eight so far, into a shortlist? It’s a secret. How many names will be on the shortlist? Nothing to say, not even on background. Could they be so despairing of the quality of runners in the paddock that they want to keep open the opportunity of slipping an extra name into the race before voting papers are sent out?

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This week our columnist William Moore proposed naming his baby Sexburga, in keeping with the revival of obscure Olde English. Ealing MP Steve Pound reveals that the choice is not so rare: he once told his son, Pelham, that he could choose any confirmation name “so long as it is in the Book of Saints”. The stroppy teenager chose Sexburga. After arguing over the choice — the original Sexburga was an East Anglian nun — Pound conceded. The day arrived and the bishop overseeing the service spluttered when he read out the name: “Pelham, Joseph... Sexburga?” Young Pound remains so proud of his choice that it is now printed in his passport.

Rainbow over the capital as Jack and Edie spread the Pride word

Pride Pals: Alexa Chung and Jack Guinness (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for The London EDITION) 
Dave Benett/Getty Images for The

Pride parties took place all over London last night ahead of tomorrow’s parade. Fashion patch magnates Edie Campbell and Christabel MacGreevy teamed up with Dazed and Tinder for a party at Her Upstairs in Kentish Town, while DJ Nick Grimshaw, designer Pam Hogg and Jay Jay Revlon were at cosmetic brand Kiehl’s rainbow party at its Regent Street store.

Model Jack Guinness hosted his own Pride party and invited along best friend and model Alexa Chung.

Guinness had commissioned a rainbow installation around the doors of The London Edition: “I’ve walked through those doors many times and I’ve always thought they need gay-ing up,” he told us.

“If you don’t walk through a rainbow you’re not coming in.”

Guinness recently said that when he started modelling “I was told brands wouldn’t hire me if they knew I was gay”. He warns that he will “cry all the way up Oxford street” tomorrow.

SW1A

Brexit Secretary David Davis is at Chequers today but when we tell him they don’t serve champagne, he jokes: “Well, I’m not going then.” He adds: “What’s interesting about being in Chequers is that if you walk out of Cabinet while you’re there, you lose your car immediately and then have to walk ten miles to the nearest station.” Peter Bone MP is now offering lifts.

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Former Grimsby Labour MP Austin Mitchell is scathing about Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in his latest memoirs – but even more dismissive of Diane Abbott’s organisational skills. “If the revolution ever comes, she will have forgotten to book the room.”

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Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey, who apologised for a benefits blunder this week, made a rare visit to the Commons Strangers Bar. She was overheard telling a friend: “I feel like the national census... broken down by age and sex.”

Quote of the day

'Days like this, I really have to question the loyalty to the party that has defined my political life’

Emily Benn, granddaughter of Tony Benn, rails against Labour’s rejection of an internationally recognised definition of anti-Semitism

Last-minute protest

Martha Lane Fox: (Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage)
WireImage

Martha Lane Fox, founder of lastminute.com and Baroness of Soho, has declined her invitation to dinner with Donald Trump and Theresa May. “What a shame more people didn’t say no,” she despairs.The list of invitees is long, and includes Barclays CEO Jes Staley, businesswoman Helena Morrissey and Richard Gnodde, CEO of Goldman Sachs International. It’s not yet known who has accepted the invitations. Lane Fox saw her refusal as a “teeny weeny act” but her old schoolmate, novelist Charlotte Mendelson pointed out: “At 16 you gave a talk at school about Clause 28. Woman of principle even then.”

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