POLITICAL programme wars are back. Sophy Ridge has added a Wednesday evening show to her repertoire — the same day Robert Peston broadcasts his show on ITV. “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” a source at the Peston show told The Londoner.
A source at Ridge told us: “Wednesday is always a big day in politics — particularly when things are as febrile as they are at the moment — so we’re very excited.”
Competition for viewers has been intense in recent years. Peston moved his Sunday show to Wednesday evenings in 2019, while Ridge and the BBC’s Andrew Marr battled for timeslots on Sunday mornings.
In 2019, Marr moved to a 9am start, only for Ridge to announce a move to 8.30am. The Sky presenter will still be on Sunday mornings, against Sophie Raworth, the BBC’s temporary presenter as it looks for a permanent successor to Andrew Marr.
Peston has already seen off Andrew Neil, whose BBC2 Wednesday evening interview show was postponed and then cancelled because of Covid.
“The more the merrier,” a source at Peston said. Let battle commence.
PM on the ropes? It’s nothing new
MICHAEL COCKERELL has seen prime ministers in crisis before. The veteran documentary maker and interviewer told a Media Society event last night how he spoke to John Major at the height of his battle with his own Tory MPs. Major resigned as Tory leader (though remained as PM) to fight a leadership election. “It’s an odd thing to be doing to resign and then stand against yourself,” Cockerell told him. “He said, ‘I have made it a rule in politics that when my back is to the wall, I turn round and fight’.” Cockerell deadpanned: “He probably gets rather badly bandaged knuckles as a result.”
Church mouse is out of hibernation
CHARLOTTE CHURCH is dipping a toe back into public life. The singer shot to fame at a young age before taking a step back in recent years, but is now filming a TV show about turning a large Welsh estate once owned by Welsh fashion designer Laura Ashley into a retreat. “I’m so passionate about saving the world,” she tells James O’Brien’s podcast, but admits: “I do feel a bit like a little shy woodland creature coming out like, ‘hi, is everyone ok?’”
Bluntly, we pop stars aren’t all that
SELF-DEPRECATING singer James Blunt thinks the pandemic should teach other stars not to “take themselves too seriously”. “We are, as pop stars, or ‘rock stars’, really just court jesters,” Blunt says. “Musicians and actors are designated as non-essential, quite rightly.” Essential workers like doctors and nurses “should be the real celebrities of the world”, he thinks. As if to prove his point, Blunt explains his lyricwriting process: when asked why he named a hit 1973, he replies: “Because it rhymes with ‘I will always be’.” Non-essential, you say?
Kane’s able to celebrate betrothal
FASHION designer Joshua Kane threw a bash last night to celebrate his engagement to model Lottie Archer at Home House in Marylebone. The pair were joined by model Olivia Arben. Over in Chelsea, the Gentleman’s Journal celebrated Burns Night. Young fashionista Mathias Le Fevre was joined by piainst Cyrill Ibrahim, who told us: “Dry January is problematic… it’s just so nice to drink with other people” Quite.
SW1A
AFTER Margaret Hodge came to Britain in 1948, the welcome wasn’t all warm. “I remember an inspector coming to test me, aged 10, and my sister, seven, on our ‘Britishness’,” she tells LabourList. “My father made sure we ate cucumber sandwiches and fruit cake and told us to pretend this was our typical tea”. Keeping up appearances.
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JESS PHILLIPS finds social media does have its perks. “I tweeted that I loved Grey’s Anatomy the TV show and someone sent me a mocked-up surgeons security pass as if I worked at Grey Sloane Memorial Hospital,” the Labour MP tells us. She also once got a cookie “the size of a dining table”. How sweet.
