Yahoo Finance Londoner’s Diary: No ceasefire in sight for divided Labour
Welcome to the first Londoner's Diary of the week. First up we watched as two wings of the Labour party attacked each other after controversial rule changes were passed last night. Ainsley Harriott tells about the lessons he didn’t learn during his speed awareness course and we learn that Brexit is making it harder for art buyers to import paintings. In SW1A we chat to Sir Keir Starmer and Nia Griffith MP warned a conference event last night that there was to be “no Hancocking”.
11:59 , Robbie Smith
Labour’s civil war has life in it yet. The Londoner watched two wings of the party attacking each other after controversial rule changes were passed last night.
“It is a crushing blow for the old Bennite politics of the Eighties,” Labour MP Wes Streeting told a jubilant Labour To Win rally in Brighton. Centrist Streeting was on fiery form and took aim at Left-wing critics: “A period of silence on your part would be welcome.”
Streeting, pictured, pointedly hit out at “cranks” who had been on the party’s leadership ballot and said under new rules Jeremy Corbyn would not have been on the ballot paper in 2015. Earlier, at a Labour Against Austerity Event, former Corbynite leadership hopeful Rebecca Long-Bailey asked Sir Keir to stop picking internal fights with his party and called on him to restore trust with her side.
But veteran MP Pat McFadden told the rally the changes were just “10 per cent” of what was needed.
Alison McGovern MP, the former chair of Blairite organisation Progress, told the rally: “We were not beaten by the hard Left or hard Right... this year we proved all the doubters wrong.” MP Jess Phillips encouraged the party: “Let’s get our swagger back on.” Fighting talk all round.
SW1A
14:30 , Robbie Smith
SIR KEIR STARMER was jubilant at Labour’s conference yesterday — his team Arsenal trounced bitter rivals Tottenham in their north London derby. “It was fantastic,” Sir Keir told us at a Welsh Labour party event in Brighton. “The second goal was brilliant.” How was he celebrating? “By coming round these events.” Not your traditional post-win blowout.
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MATT HANCOCK’S indiscretions with Gina Coladangelo have life in them yet — they are adding to the English language. It appears that the former health secretary has become a verb. Labour MP Nia Griffith warned guests at a conference event last night that there was to be “no Hancocking”, sending the room into roars of laughter. Another indignity.
13:45 , Robbie Smith
London mayor Sadiq Khan, in Brighton for Labour’s conference, joined Dawn Butler at a nightclub for her Jamaica Night yesterday, joking that revellers should look out for Michael Gove. Back in the capital, Thomas Heatherwick and Yinka Ilori went to the London Design Festival closing party at The Standard hotel. In Spitalfields, Henry Holland, Mary Charteris and Pandemonia attended an ID magazine party for Paco Rabanne.
13:30 , Robbie Smith
Ainsley Harriott may be taking his speed-cooking TV show too much to heart — he had just been to a speeding awareness course when we spoke to him recently. The Ready Steady Cook star, pictured, tells us: “The guy said 80 to 90 per cent of offences are done because people are in a hurry. He said, ‘So what’s the answer: leave 30 minutes earlier.’” But Harriott chuckled: “I haven’t got half an hour.” Back to the classroom for Ainsley?
There’s no respect on the beach...
12:30 , Robbie Smith
MARK DRAKEFORD received a hero’s welcome at yesterday’s Welsh night at Labour’s conference in Brighton — which is more than he can expect in his home nation, where they don’t bow before status. The First Minister of Wales told the event how he was on holiday this summer in Pembrokeshire and was approaching a beach in his swimwear when he was stopped by a man in his seventies, who chided him for his break. “Oh. Got a day off, have you?’” But the man then thought of a lazier, blonder politician. “Well, better than that other bugger anyway.” Drakeford grinned: “That’s as good as it gets.”
Art attack! Brexit hits paintings too
12:02 , Robbie Smith
It isn’t just fuel and lorries: Brexit is making it harder for art buyers to import paintings. Expert and presenter Bendor Grosvenor bought an artwork in Spain in April which only arrived last week. He tells us that a mixture of shipping delays and import duty are leading to a “slow bleed” for his colleagues. Grosvenor admits that the travails are “first world problems” but the industry is worth “billions” to London.
