The former Tory chairman has not been forgiven for parachuting himself into what seemed like a safe Essex seat at the 11th hour and without the usual selection contest. Richard Holden, or Billericay Dickie as he is known after winning the seat by 20 votes, advertised for a researcher and constituency officer on Thursday, advising that “early applications are encouraged”. It drew a caustic response from one member of the Tory staffers’ WhatsApp group. “You have to apply and send in a CV? You mean you can’t just declare yourself in post?” he asked. “How odd.”
Labour may want to rid the Lords of hereditary peers but they have made one a frontbencher. The 4th Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede, who now sits as a life peer, is a justice minister. His great-grandfather, a minister under Ramsay MacDonald, popularised the maxim “truth is the first casualty [of war]”. These days people may say it’s the first casualty of elections.
A lesson in cold blood
Alexander Fiske-Harrison, Britain’s leading bullfighter, which is like being tiddlywinks champion of the Amazon, is inspired by those who keep their upper lip starched. He writes in Boisdale Life that his hero is Charles Upham, twice winner of the Victoria Cross. In 1943, Upham attempted a bold daylight escape from a prisoner of war camp only to get caught on the barbed wire. A Nazi corporal put a loaded pistol to his head but Upham reminded him that it was only legal to shoot a PoW while escaping. Since he clearly could not move, he should be spared. He then lit a cigarette and said: “And I refuse to be shot by a bloody corporal. Bring an officer.” Upham lived for another 51 years.
Hawking’s highest accolade
The archive of Professor Stephen Hawking can now be viewed at the Cambridge University Library after 113 boxes were catalogued. As well as his research on black holes, there are personal effects, such as a letter to the director of the Royal Opera House complaining about disabled access and a one-sentence pirate story he wrote for his father when he was six. I suspect, though, that the most popular item will be his marked-up script from when Hawking made a guest appearance on The Simpsons. Darwin and Newton never got that honour.
I wrote about Jacob Rees-Mogg’s illegible handwriting. This came in useful when he was at Oxford and helped to organise a May ball. Looking for a way to prevent ticket fraud, the committee used a signature stamp of the Mogg’s spidery scrawl on every official ticket. This Victorian version of a QR code was impossible to forge and so unwanted visitors were kept away.
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Domestic politics
“Family members always know how to bring you back down to earth,” says James Naish, the first Labour MP for Rushcliffe since 1970. After visiting parliament, he returned home to find his wife had laid out their baby’s mat with wipes and nappies and stuck a campaign poster to the wall that said: “Change.” Subtle messaging that would have pleased Naish’s uncle, the old spin chief Alastair Campbell.
