Londoner’s Diary: ‘Secret Mountbatten papers must be released’

Lord Mountbatten assassination apology
PA

MPs and the Royal Historical Society have urged that private documents of Lord Mountbatten should be released by the Cabinet Office ahead of a hearing next month.

The papers of the senior royal were bought by the University of Southampton for £2.8 million in 2010 with the promise they would be made public. However, some were kept secret at the request of the Government. Historian Andrew Lownie spent £250,000 of his own money fighting get access to all of the documents, and in 2019 the Information Commissioner’s Office found in his favour. However, the University and the Cabinet Office launched an appeal, to be held in November. Dr Philip Carter, academic director of the Royal Historical Society, told us he has written to the university. Labour MP Chris Evans, chair of the Archives and History APPG, told us he is “deeply concerned” the issue could “set a precedent”. Lownie says it is a “scandal” that the papers had been suppressed “at huge cost to the public purse”.

It is not clear why the documents might be being kept secret. Mountbatten was assassinated by the IRA in 1979. The University of Southampton said they wanted to make “public as much of the collection as is possible while balancing all our legal obligations”. The Cabinet Office said it “would not be appropriate to make further comment whilst this is subject to ongoing legal proceedings”.

Battle lines are drawn… in bed

Ed Lucas

JOURNALIST Edward Lucas celebrated becoming the next Lib-Dem candidate for the Cities of London and Westminster with a party at the National Liberal Club last night. His Tory wife Cristina Odone joked to us that she’d erected “a wall between our two sides of the bed — his is yellow, mine is blue”. Sister of the PM and one-time Lib-Dem candidate Rachel Johnson made a speech, saying she was no longer in the party, but felt she owed Lucas. Johnson once turned up to BBC’s Newsnight a little tipsy and “bursting out of a tight jumpsuit” and Lucas saved her blushes with a safety pin. He’ll go far.

It’s a pitta Bimini didn’t get to Paris

Bimini Bon Boulash
PA Archive

BIMINI Bon Boulash has revealed she was robbed of her wallet and passport while in Athens airport on her way to Paris fashion week. “I was hysterical, I was crying,” she says. The Drag Race UK star had been looking forward to going to shows and dinners but had to make her peace with being stuck in Greece because new documents didn’t arrive in time. She reflects: “I spent the whole weekend in Athens eating bread so it wasn’t that bad.”

Mishal makes sport of mic mess

RED faces this morning on the Today programme after a presenter’s hot mic led to an own goal. Mishal Husain introduced Rob Bonnet for the sports news just after 6.30 this morning, only for listeners to hear Bonnet exclaim “I just lost cue” followed swiftly by “Oh Jesus”. Husain chuckled: “We were hoping to talk to Rob”, before Bonnet resurfaced. She explained it had been “a little bit entertaining for us all in the meantime”, but Bonnet huffed: “Yes? Good. Well okay, look, let’s talk football.”

A soggy night for Aquaman Momoa

"Dune" UK Special Screening - VIP Arrivals
Dave Benett

Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya and Jason Momoa braved the rain at a screening of their film Dune at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square. At one point, Aquaman star Momoa removed a shoe — we’re not sure why. Also there were Keith Lemon, Charli Howard and Joel Dommett. Elsewhere, Colin Jackson brought mum Angela to the book launch of Still Breathing: 100 Black Voices on Racism at The Ivy.

SW1A

NEIL Hamilton has officially become leader of benighted and shrunken political party Ukip. The disgraced former Tory MP won 79 per cent of the vote, but turnout was only just over 20 per cent. The party’s total membership is a little over 3,000. Hamilton lost his Welsh Assembly seat earlier this year. Is the only way up now? There’s a very long way to go…

--

RECENTLY demoted to Justice Secretary, Dominic Raab is advertising for a new office manager. The job advert specifies managing his diary and “ensuring the office is fully supplied with stationery and other materials”. Duties may also include buying the “Dom Raab special” — the minister is famous for getting the same baguette from Pret every day.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in