Booted from Parliament by his constituents, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg has just launched his touring one-man stage show, Mogg Unbuttoned, in which the former Leader of the House promises to lift 'the velvet curtain on life in Westminster', and invites the audience to 'challenge' him in live, unscripted Q&A sessions.
At least, that's the plan. But censorious 'woke' theatres are, I can disclose, refusing to host Rees-Mogg.
'Two or three theatres didn't want to have a Conservative politician,' Sir Jacob tells me. 'Some of them are [Labour] council-owned, so they didn't want to upset local Labour councils.'
The GB News broadcaster, who held his first show this month in Hereford, adds: 'Fortunately, the ones that I have been able to do have sold well, and the first one has been extremely enjoyable.'
Sir Jacob, MP for North East Somerset from 2010 until 2024, is billed to take his show to Worcester, Shrewsbury, Lincoln and Winchester next month, but refrains from naming theatres which have refused to host him.
'The promoters [for Mogg Unbuttoned] have relations with these studios [and] theatres and I don't want to upset their relationship,' he says. 'I would definitely name and shame them, but I have a duty to the promoters.'
My theatrical mole tells me that some venues are likely to have rejected Rees-Mogg – a devout Catholic and free speech advocate – without any pressure from councils. 'Some felt that, as they were in Labour areas, they couldn't platform him.'
In 2018, Rees-Mogg was confronted by a largely masked mob who burst into a lecture theatre and disrupted a talk he was giving to students at the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol.
'People coming along and shouting at you, people heckling, is part of political life,' Sir Jacob, 56, reflected. 'But [the wearing of] masks is a little bit sinister.'
Peter Mandelson has been expunged by his old Oxford college, St Catherine's, from which he resigned as an honorary fellow, as I revealed last November. Until a week or two ago, the Labour grandee appeared prominently on its website. And when Mandy was made British ambassador to the US, Professor Bart van Es, Catz's Pro-Master, declared: '[We] know he will do an excellent job,' adding, '[we] hope, in the near future, to host him again for an event in College.' If only Keir Starmer could do such an airbrushing…
A birthday smacker for Lady Mary from Poppy: Lady Mary Charteris shares a kiss on the lips with model pal Poppy Delevingne at Aethos London in Shoreditch at the DJ's 39th birthday party. Lady Mary poses beside a cake resembling gold lips around an eye, topped with a miniature figure of her spinning the decks. Memories of Lady Mary Charteris's 39th birthday party are in short supply after a new camera she had been given for the night had a piece missing. 'I only realised the next day it had no memory card,' says the DJ, who posed beside a cake resembling gold lips around an eye, topped with a miniature figure of her spinning the decks. 'These are all the photos I took on my phone.' Still, one stood out, a candid moment of her sharing a kiss on the lips with model pal Poppy Delevingne, 39, at Aethos London in Shoreditch, as friend Jessica Clarke beams delightedly. 'I love my friends so much it hurts,' says Lady Mary.
High society mourns Lady Wyatt, 99: Lady Verushka Wyatt was the widow of Lord Wyatt of Weeford, the one-time Labour MP. A little vivid colour ebbs from London life with news of the death, aged 99, of Verushka, Lady Wyatt, widow of Lord Wyatt of Weeford, the one-time Labour MP who, by the end of his life, was perhaps the most trusted confidant of Margaret Thatcher, who phoned him daily before 8am. The couple seemed to know, or have met, everyone – from the Queen Mother to champagne socialists such as Anthony Crosland, who hosted black-tie dinner parties in his kitchen, and Roy (later Lord) Jenkins who, while married and serving as Home Secretary, enjoyed the favours of 'at least three' mistresses, Verushka recalled. But this didn't mean that Verushka, who became Wyatt's fourth wife in 1966, 20 years after fleeing communist Hungary, was familiar with all strata of society. Her stint on jury service, her daughter, writer Petronella Wyatt, tells me, ended abruptly when, hearing a case of petty theft, she announced she hadn't understood a word that had been said – 'because of the Cockney accents'.
If tough love was a formula for success, then comedian Romesh Ranganathan is its poster boy. The Weakest Link host recalls the brutal review he received from his father, Ranga, that changed his life, after his dad attended one of his first paid stand-up gigs. 'I did my first paid weekend [doing comedy]. I thought I did a great gig,' Romesh, 48, says. 'He [Ranga] said: 'you were nowhere near as funny as the last guy... if you want to do this for a living, aim at him, try to get better'.' Ouch!
Emerald swaps Heathcliff for Love Island in new film: Emerald Fennell's next project might owe more to reality TV programmes such as Married At First Sight Australia and Love Island. Emerald Fennell took cues from her teenage reading of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights for her latest film, but her next project might owe more to reality TV. The Oscar winner, 40, tells me at a talk at the V&A museum in London: 'I watch Married At First Sight Australia and Love Island. I watch a lot of reality TV because even if it's constructed, I'm reminded of how transparent we all are and no matter how in our minds we think we're clever and we're not showing that we love someone or we're not showing that we're angry, it's completely transparent.'
