Before I popped out to do my radio piece tonight I was looking at Hansard's reports of the Queen's Speech (and yes, I do appreciate I lead an exciting life). I'd missed much of what was going on in the Chamber because I was doing the Simon Mayo show, so only got to see snatches of it on television with the sound turned down and subtitles on, which was quite amusing because they kept getting it slightly wrong... e.g. when David Cameron said "I shall give way to the Hon Member for Ealing North. Enormous stand ups for Parliament".
DC started by praising Tom Clarke, who had moved the Honourable Address or whatever it's called. He said:
"I have done my homework and I gather that the right hon. Member for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill is a Brownite; I also gather that he paid the ultimate price when he was, of course, sacked by Tony Blair. I understand that from 1997 to 1998, the right hon. Gentleman was the Minister with responsibility for film. It is said that on the day he was caught up in the Blair-Brown blood feud and fired, he was actually having drinks on the terrace with Liz Hurley and Hugh Grant—early membership of the Notting Hill set, perhaps. The next day, the right hon. Gentleman was back in the Tea Room with his mates, so we could say that one minute he was hobnobbing with the stars and the next minute he was starring with the Hobnobs."
I mention this only because I was on the terrace that night (long before I became an MP). As I walked through the Strangers Bar after buying some drinks, a guy with a floppy fringe smiled sheepishly at me, so I smiled back, thinking I vaguely recognised him. I eventually came to the conclusion it was Ben Bradshaw.
It was only the next day when I read the papers that I realised it was Hugh Grant. No idea how we missed seeing Liz Hurley; she must have been buried in a scrum of drooling male MPs.
P.S. 'Starring with the Hobnobs'? Sack the joke-writer now!
No comments:
Post a Comment