On the last night of Tory party conference, the PM and most of the Cabinet turned out for The Spectator’s champagne-fuelled bash, where Liz Truss’s cameo in Manchester was much-discussed.
The mag’s political correspondent James Heale, who this time last year moonlighted as a co-biographer of Truss, told us he is thinking of actors who might play the short-lived PM in the upcoming film version of his book. Gillian Anderson could pull it off. But she’s already done Thatcher, so perhaps it’s a step down.
Despite her failure as PM, Truss is said to still believe she could make a comeback as PM. We hear that she has been sending emails offering help to new Tory candidates, perhaps trying to build a base. She may be the only one who thinks it possible.
Truss had gone home, but Suella Braverman was there after a busy day. Having made her speech, the Home Secretary was snapped standing on a guide dog’s tail, see below. She claimed “no dogs were harmed”, and said sorry to “all dogs out there”. That’s a step up from dog whistling.
Those who didn’t get into the Speccie went elsewhere. The LGBT+ Conservatives held a wild party, while band Toploader played Dancing In The Moonlight to a crowd of Tories. That will be good for their street cred.
Actors pay homage to Sondheim
Acting royalty Lily James and Brian Cox paid tribute to the great musical composer Stephen Sondheim last night at Old Friends, a review of his works at the Gielgud Theatre. Succession star Cox told us Sondheim, who died during the pandemic, had come to see him in a one-man show off Broadway “twice or maybe three times”. “I could see him right in the second row,” he said. Playing on Being Alive, one of Sondheim’s most famous tunes, Cox added: “I feel alive everyday. I never don’t feel alive.” Also there was actor and writer Simon Callow, who called Sondheim an “utterly delightful, but also a brilliantly complex, sophisticated man”. Callow told us about his writing on Orson Welles, now on his fourth volume. “I’ve written 750,000 words so far,” he said. “Not as much as Proust, or Robert Caro on LBJ.” Almost as long as the entire Harry Potter series.
Theresa May draws a crowd
Former PM Theresa May enjoyed something of a homecoming in the Tory conference centre yesterday, as a huge queue of members formed for her book signing. After some difficult conferences when in No 10 (remember the coughing fit?), May looked relaxed flogging copies of The Abuse of Power. We asked shops whose books were flying off the shelves. They said May and ex-minister David Gauke’s, but Boris Johnson was selling less well.
Beckhams back in London
The Beckham show decamped from Miami to London yesterday, as David and the whole brood came to the capital to promote the ex-England captain’s new bare-all Netflix show. Son Brooklyn and his wife Nicola were there, as well as pals, including England star Alessia Russo and former player Alex Scott. Emma Bunton was the only Spice Girl, but Geri was represented by her husband Christian Horner. The couple discuss their troubles in the show, but looked loved up, dancing on the red carpet.
