Britain’s top writers and historians packed into The Travellers Club on Pall Mall last night for the prestigious Duff Cooper Prize for non-fiction. Authors Robert Harris and Jung Chang, historian Sir Antony Beevor and Nicky Haslam were there, enjoying the free-flowing Pol Roger champagne.
Julian Jackson won the £5,000 prize for his book, France on Trial. His editor Stuart Proffitt made a speech and mentioned that a banister was installed at The Travellers Club for Talleyrand, the crafty French statesman who was involved in more political regimes “than anyone since Michael Gove”. Perhaps Gove subscribes to Tallyrand’s theory that “treason is simply a matter of timing”.
Novelist Victoria Hislop, pictured with husband Ian and Robert Harris, gave us some respite from the sophisticated chatter. She recalled with horror a time in the 1990s when she was walking through Clapham Common with her husband. It was a warm day and they spotted a man splayed out on the grass, “wearing nothing but a tiny pair of red Speedos”. On closer inspection, they realised it was a very distinctive looking moustachioed member of Parliament. Gorgeous!
Sajid Javid’s Truss issues
Politicians are notoriously reluctant to own up to their mistakes, but Sajid Javid is unusually candid about what is “top of the list” of his political blunders. “It was a huge mistake to support Liz Truss,” he said on the Leading podcast, admitting that he backed her for prime minister in 2022 “with great regret,” because he knew she was going to win.
“I thought naively that I would be able to help sort of moderate her, because I was worried about what she might do. And obviously it turned out that first she did win, but she wasn’t going to be listening to anyone,” he said.
Javid throwing his weight behind Truss was seen as a major blow to Rishi Sunak’s leadership campaign at the time. He said back in those optimistic days that Truss was the best of both Thatcher and Reagan, and would “reunite the party.” Famous last words. “I should have backed Rishi Sunak,” he now confesses. Will other Tory MPs follow suit?
