Toby Harris went to a posh do at the Mansion House:
The surrealism began with a Grace from the Lord Mayor's Chaplain that seemed to be based entirely on a song by Noel Coward – an innovation too far even for the New Model Conservative Leader of Hammersmith and Fulham, Stephen Greenhalgh, or at least for his phone which warbled its protest whilst the Chaplain was speaking (Greenhalgh tried ineffectually to silence it..).
Meanwhile nearby, discontent simmered amongst Mayor Johnson's Deputy Mayors about the seating arrangements: why had (unelected) Deputy Mayor Sir Simon (rumoured soon to be Lord) Milton been given such a prominent seat allocation, compared with the two other (elected) Deputy Mayors? (Milton was at the centre of the top-table at the left hand of God himself or more precisely at the left hand of Stuart Fraser, the (unelected) Chairman of the Corporation's Policy and Resources Committee.) And then, of course, there was the speech from Mayor Boris Johnson himself.
Now read on.
