Labour seemed too elitist, says Ivan Lewis. He would know
? What a seditious tract is the Purple Book, the publication documenting the many failings of New Labour. Ex-minister Ivan Lewis was particularly outspoken in his chapter diagnosing a Labour that "looks like and speaks on behalf of an urban metropolitan elite". Indeed. According to the Register of Members' Interests, Lewis accepted more than �2,000 worth of freebie tickets from the Royal Ballet. Part of his shadow culture brief, his office says. He went for all of us.
? Japes aplenty at London's City Hall, where Boris Johnson ? having seen one deputy forced to stand down and another convicted for fraud ? now has the indignity of seeing his deputy for community engagement formally investigated for alleged racism. "Why did the police put Persil in the water cannon?" was the question from Richard Barnes. "To stop the coloureds running." He apparently says he was relating to office staff a "sick" email sent to him as an example of the poison in the ether. Others, including one official who complained via a union, say he was seeking a cheap laugh. All a bit unsavoury, especially as Barnes, amid the furore, apologised in July for an off-colour remark about Irish builders. His supporters blame a union stitch-up and a flawed standards process. Truly, never a dull moment beside the Thames.
? The financial crisis deepens, the courts are in crisis, and over at the Ministry of Justice Ken Clarke frets about the issues that plague those charged with government: "The myth I can never dispel is that I do not wear Hush Puppies," said Ken, addressing lawyers at Canary Wharf. Ken wears suede. Hush Puppies, Ken declared, "do not make suede". So there!
? Culture minister John Penrose, the current tourism minister, has also been busy. The arts may be dying a slow financial death but there's good news: @johnpenroseMP, the Twitter account opened by a tourism minister impersonator, has been silenced. The minister's people had a word with the social networking website and whoosh, no more tweets in his name about dinosaurs, the cast of Batman Forever and Harry Potter. Happy days.
? Day two of the death-fest, as arms manufacturers continue their beauty parade at Excel in east London. By day they parade their wares; at night they party. On Tuesday the fun was at the National Gallery, whose corporate benefactors include the Italian defence firm Finmeccanica. Not the usual event at the National. Attendees including the former defence secretary Geoff Hoon were forced to brave protesters chanting "Scum!". Still, Geoff's a hard nut, and there were canapes. And Labour types have called him worse.
? Paranoia stalks the land, meanwhile, as the list of phone-hacking victims grows longer. A celebrity here, a grieving mother there. Clear to see that no one was safe. We rang Kelvin MacKenzie to ask what he was doing the other day, taking tea at the National Theatre cafe with the artistic director, Sir Nicholas Hytner. "I know his brother very well," said Kelvin. Yes, we said, you sponsored his brother for a charity event. "How do you know that? Have you been hacking?" No, we said. Not our style, and we couldn't afford Glenn Mulcaire anyway. The donors were all on Google.
? Finally, what will become of the archbishop of Canterbury? He's planning an exit to academia next year, according to the Sunday Telegraph, and may arise again with a newly created professorship at Trinity College, Cambridge. Sounds a post exalted enough for a man of his status ? but it would, one suspects, be a bit of a disappointment. Discussions behind the scenes there have linked him to a much bigger job, the mastership of Trinity, on the departure of the widely respected Lord Rees. Williams may get it, he may not, for other names are also being mentioned as a fit for Trinity ? including Neil MacGregor, the director of the British Museum. The archbishop deserves a bit of luck. He is said to have been considered for the wardenship at Merton College, Oxford. Apparently, he didn't make the shortlist.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/sep/14/hugh-muir-diary-ivan-lewis
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