Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (Belinda Jiao/PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)RISHI Sunak says working in hospitality was good training for running the country.
Speaking to the British Curry Awards last night, Sunak joked of his job in No 10: “I’ve been a bit busy, juggling lots of plates, dealing with some tricky customers, making the sums add up”.
The PM appeared via video: he was actually at the Lord Mayor’s banquet across town. He added: “The thing I’ve learned about being Prime Minister was the best training I ever had was working in a curry house.”
Sunak waited tables at Kuti’s Brasserie in Southampton as a teenager, before going into banking and politics. We reported earlier this month that Kuti’s is in trouble due to the cost-of-living crisis, with the owner warning “times are tough”.
There was an awkward moment for London Minister Paul Scully, who was introduced as controverial Mayor of Tower Hamlets Lutfur Rahman.
Fleabag shows her daring side
Fleabag Phoebe Waller-Bridge is loving “throwing herself in the back of vehicles” for the new Indiana Jones film, where she will be Indie’s goddaughter. “There’s no acting around that, you just have to bloody do it,” she tells Empire. But she probably won’t be a full-time action hero. “It would have to be in films requiring a very gawky, awkward stuntperson” she says.
Will Dehenna aim for mayor next?
NORTHERN MP Dehenna Davison, 29, said last week she won’t stand at the next election. She’s one of at least 12 Tories doing the same, a sign that some expect to lose the next election. In a piece for The House, Davison says she will keep working on Levelling Up, but “Westminster needs to get out of people’s way”, before noting the role of North Yorkshire mayor is free. Is that a hint?
Lloyd Webber focuses on the music
WEST END musical maestro Andrew Lloyd Webber called his last production, Cinderella, a “costly mistake”. It was cancelled after lockdown troubles, leading to a fallout with the cast. Now he has announced a new partnership with producer Michael Harrison, saying: “I will now concentrate on composing, knowing I have a first-rate producer to collaborate with in the future.”
A Dickensian night out
ACTOR Suranne Jones was at the premiere ofChristmas Carole, a telling of the Dickens classic, in Soho last night, with co-star Taj Atwal.
Ex-England footballer David Seaman and his wife Frankie were out in Battersea. Seaman told us that the Qatar World Cup is over-politicised, saying: “Let’s let the football do what it does, entertain us. Let the politicians deal with the politics.”
At the Lyric Theatre, Matt Goss, Stephanie Beacham and Angela Rippon went to a celebration of Judy Garland, born 100 years ago, in aid of Centrepoint. And presenters Matt Willis and Emma Willis went to Social Bite’s Festival of Kindness in Charing Cross.
