What will Boris Johnson do next? The City Council’s conversation is that the Prime Minister could “make a George Osborne” and become editor of the London Evening Standard, owned by his close friend Lord Lebedev.
But I’ve heard of another more exciting plan: Johnson could then create a new political party to face his enemies in the establishment, copying Emmanuel Macron’s La République En Marche! which upset the ruling French elite in 2016. A conservative sympathetic donor, who has donated hundreds of thousands of pounds to the party, tells me he would gladly support a Johnson-led political movement: “If I did, the recolzaria “.
A firm spokesman for Johnson says “he is prime minister until September 5. He will have a serious reflection on his future after that time.”
Johnson’s support among the base “puts him in a very powerful position,” the donor says. “Boris has all the aces.” On the go, Boris!
Council of Francis Urquhart
On this great weekend for the Conservative conspiracy, I ask House of Cards author Michael Dobbs for the wisdom of his fictional chief Francis Urquhart, played by Ian Richardson, oi.
“Dear old FU I wouldn’t have had a chance these days,” he tells me. “I would be muttering, ‘What has happened to my party, all these candidates and not a single one is masculine, pale and rancid.'”
As for advice, Urquhart would have said, “Remember that politics is the second oldest profession in the world, so go and learn from the first and show that you enjoy it while doing your duty.”
Cameron walked away with a red face
David Cameron has revealed that he considered the medication to prevent them from putting on a red face during the prime minister’s questions. The former prime minister told Politico’s Westminster Insider podcast that if they caught him “it was very obvious because I blush very easily. A friend of my doctor said,” Maybe you should take a beta blocker before the first questions Minister “.
Cameron turned down the offer. “I thought this was a terrible idea. Sometimes you’re a little full of testosterone and you’re too excited. But I never tried.” It’s time for a good cup of tea, Dave.
Lights! Camera! Hancock!
Great excitement in Westminster, where former Health Secretary Matt Hancock has been walking followed by two cameras.
Hancock’s team is rushing to override the suggestions he’s looking to star in his own Netflix documentary. “No movie, I’m afraid.” He has just been interviewed about life as a deputy.
Or so he says …
Govey is heading to Ibiza
Last summer he was encouraged by the surprise decision of Cabinet Minister Michael Gove, about 50, to go to a club in Aberdeen. Now I have heard that the former secretary of Levelling-Up plans to improve this year with a holiday in Ibiza, the Spanish island of clubs. “Expect more viral videos,” my source says in flip flops. I can not wait!
Neil topless
An unusual artistic discovery in the bowels of the BBC’s Westminster headquarters: a painting, below, of a topless Andrew Neil, full of a tattoo of a naked woman on his arm, playing chess. Neil assures me he didn’t pose for painting. The legendary station tells me that the artist, who was thought to be SW1 painter Kaya Mar, had made two portraits of Neil “without me posing for him and without my approval.”
He adds, “He tried to give me one and I said, ‘I really don’t want any, you should just burn them.’
Give HM a Bafta!
Dame Maureen Lipman has asked for the Queen to get an acting award after Her Majesty’s star returns in front of Paddington Bear as part of a short film for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
“I proposed to Bafta that the queen get the award for best newcomer for best appearance in a short film,” Lipman told diners during an evening with the actress at London’s Delaunay restaurant.
But he acknowledged that the nineteen-year-old queen could be a little long to get a prize for best newcomer.
“It would be like giving Dolly Parton a coach bra!” she said.
Peterborough, which is published every Friday at 7pm, is regularly edited by Christopher Hope, the Telegraph’s chief political correspondent and the author of the daily Chopper’s Politics. You can contact him at peterborough@telegraph.co.uk