Boris Johnson’s former aide Allegra Stratton has twisted the knife into her ex-boss following his fall. Stratton, who was Johnson’s press secretary, was the first casualty of Partygate, resigning when a video of her laughing about parties leaked.
Now she has revealed new details about her time working for the former PM, claiming that instead of tackling climate change, he was busy at the 2021 COP26 summit worrying “have we got O Patz sorted?” about the Owen Paterson affair. Stratton, writing in her daily Bloomberg newsletter, says this was “the beginning of the end” for the PM.
Stratton has reasons for speaking now, as she’s married to James Forsyth, Rishi Sunak’s top political adviser. Johnson allies are out to get Forsyth: Nadine Dorries called him and Sunak “posh boys” yesterday. “I don’t write or talk much ... about Boris,” writes Stratton, because “it would be likely only to perpetuate a story... I think most of us want to end”.
Some say Johnson will now return to journalism, perhaps editing the Spectator magazine again. But Andrew Neil, its chairman, doesn’t seem keen. He says a Johnson political comeback is unlikely because “it’s too much hard work”, and he and his allies “are people just trying to play for position... when in fact their best years belong in the past and it’s over”. Ouch.
The mayoral way is ... insults?
A Tory hopeful who could be London’s next mayor has a history of writing unkind tweets about TV stars. Councillor Susan Hall has just made the Tory last three to face Sadiq Khan at the next election. But in 2014, she called Gemma Collins from The Only Way Is Essex a “stupid fat blonde woman”, adding “OMG this fat woman Gemma is really ghastly … however watching her squeal may be funny”. Charming.
Brooker’s Black Mirror shake up
Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker decided to “shake up” the latest series of his Netflix hit so it isn’t just a dystopia about modern tech. “There was a danger the show was becoming, ‘Let’s look at the technology pages of the paper this week’,” he said at the BFI Southbank last night. Brooker, who appeared with series star Josh Hartnett and his co-creator Jessica Rhoades, also said AI and Chat GPT were moving so fast that some of his ideas became old too quickly. Instead he has explored alternate pasts, with plenty of “horror”.
Hurley triples her birthday fun
Elizabeth Hurley had some unusual guests to help celebrate her birthday in style: two life-sized cut-outs of herself. The actress marked her 58th birthday over the weekend, and invited her new friends to watch her cut a cake. They weren’t the only attendees. Also there were her son Damian, as well as plenty of real-life pals. “Family, friends & doggies,” Hurley wrote online. “Perfect weekend.” We assume her doppelgängers agree.
Harry Potter play; a good idea in the end
It won him an Olivier award, but when Harry Potter and The Cursed Child’s first star Jamie Parker heard about the show he thought it was an “awful” idea. The actor tells the Evening Standard Theatre podcast he worried the play would be “dreadful”. He was then in it for nearly three years. Parker, right, is now in the Curious Case of Benjamin Button at the Southwark Playhouse, after a quiet patch. “You get a big job, then you don’t work,” he said.
Odey dropped by finance set
Old pals of financier Crispin Odey are dropping him sharpish. Thirteen women have made sexual misconduct accusations against Odey, which he denies. Odey helped Jacob Rees-Mogg and Lord Johnson set up a finance firm in 2007. Lord Johnson, who is now a junior trade minister, told us at London Tech Week yesterday they’d severed all ties with Odey a while ago.
