Ian Duncan Smith and Matt Hancock
(Picture: Bruce Adams/Daily Mail; PA Wire)The Westminster village gave a bad review to Matt Hancock’s trip to the I’m a Celebrity jungle last night. Tory grandee Iain Duncan Smith, far right, wasn’t impressed. “It’s up to him but I don’t agree with it,” he told us at a Centre for Social Justice event. “You’re a politician not a celebrity. I was offered it three times and turned it down,” he said, adding he’d also been approached by Strictly.
IDS, known as the “Quiet Man” when he was Tory leader, said if he did do the show he wouldn’t be very social.
Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker, far left, told us us he is a keen camper but wouldn’t join Hancock Down Under. “I’ve got no intention of eating kangaroo bits,” he said. Baker was surprised to hear Hancock lost the Tory whip: “Oh dear, that’s terrible. I’m very fond of Matt.”
Truss not this bookie’s favourite
Writer Sir Anthony Seldon launched his book, The Path To Peace, at Daunt Marylebone last night, a passion project about walking the WWI Western Front in France. Seldon is better known for writing a book about every PM since Gordon Brown. Liz Truss’s short reign in Downing Street has given him a dilemma. “I’m still toying up whether to write Truss At 10,” he told us. Might be more of a pamphlet.
Don’t let the bells end
The London foundry that cast the Big Ben bells is up for rent. Grade II-listed Whitechapel Bell Foundry, which stopped making bells in 2017, was bought by a US company which then pushed through plans to turn the site into a boutique hotel. Now The Art Newspaper reports it’s up for rent. If could become a gallery. Former Royal Academy boss Charles Saumarez Smith says wants it to make bells again: “I am still hoping that the relevant heritage agencies – most notably, Historic England, Tower Hamlets and the National Heritage Lottery Fund – will see the benefit in retaining its historic use which is at least as much a part of its historic interest as the building.”
Boris holds a party
Former PM Boris Johnson hosted a party for his allies at his office in Westminster last night, perhaps making amends for marching them up the hill and down again with his abortive tilt at returning to No 10 last month. Johnson jokingly compared keeping the Tory party in line to pacifying two noisy children on a long-haul flight, reports Politico. Take note, Rishi.
Last night in town
David Beckham brought the whole family, sans Brooklyn, to the Leicester Square premiere of his new documentary Save Our Squad last night. It follows an east London under-14s team’s battle with relegation. Fellow ex-player Alex Scott interviewed Becks, who praised grassroots football, saying: “To be part of a team is to be part of a community”. At Sessions Arts Club, Maserati had a party with actor Dominic Cooper and singer Griff.
