The Londoner: MPs call for solution as selfie fever rules in the Commons

Sir Edward Leigh and Jacob Rees Mogg seek solutions to MP selfies / How will Julian Fellowes deal with Rothschild men / Deja vu for Justin Trudeau / Arizona Muse is eco-obsessed
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19 April 2018

Is The House of Commons all talk and no trousers when it comes to selfies in the chamber? Today’s Times states that “ministers are setting themselves on a collision course with the parliamentary authorities by taking photographs inside the House of Commons and posting them on social media.”

Culprits include Jess Phillips Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, and Tory MP and deputy chairman James Cleverly — who yesterday posted a selfie from the men’s loos. Earlier this week Liz Truss, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, snapped Theresa May delivering her statement on Syria. Truss is a repeat offender. She took a photo in February of the Treasury front bench team including the Chancellor, Philip Hammond.

This morning a Commons spokesman told The Londoner: “Photography is not generally permitted in the House of Commons chamber, and where it is seen or reported to be happening the individual in question will be asked to stop and reminded of the rules.”

But although these authorities have repeatedly ticked off MPs, they are now being accused of “turning a blind eye” and, worse, of “impotence” for doing nothing to enforce the rules by more conservative colleagues who would like to see further action. “Something does need to be done,” one MP tells me.

The Commons spokesman says they have no punitive powers: “There are no sanctions for MPs who take photographs in the Chamber when the House is sitting, the Serjeant at Arms reminds any who do so of the rules”.

This will not dampen the resolve of MPs who want to ban photography in the House. Sir Edward Leigh, the Conservative MP for Gainsborough, describes it as “tiresome. The Speaker should act if there is any breach of standards”. Jacob Rees-Mogg MP adds: “We need a good British compromise so that people discreetly take selfies — but not at the Despatch Box in the midst of a speech.” Truss, take note.

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Rothschild women can bank on Julian

Julian Fellowes loves writing strong, waspish female characters. So how will he handle the fact that the Rothschilds — he is writing a new Sky Atlantic programme about the family’s 19th-century rise — are famously male-dominated?

On Tuesday the Rothschilds once again chose a male to take over as head of the banking empire. And last month the firm’s gender pay gap figures revealed a 55.8 per cent gap on the median hourly pay, rising to 86.9 per cent on bonus pay.

Julian will have to be imaginative.

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Good news for the Jewish community in the midst of the anti-Semitism row: Ed Balls and Sir Eric Pickles are uniting as co-chairs of the UK Holocaust Memorial Trust advisory board. The pair, recruited by Theresa May, replace Sir Peter Bazalgette. “I’m hugely grateful to the Prime Minister for putting her trust in us,” says Balls.

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Finally, an old Etonian who remembers Alexander Nix — only one contemporary did when we called as Facebook’s privacy scandal was unearthed. “He was a cock,” we were told. Now another says the suspended Cambridge Analytica CEO was a party animal. Apparently he was energetic, chatty and “liked to stay up all night”.

Stella leads the way at the V&A with her fashionably eco clothes design

Fashion Muse: Arizona with Stella McCartney (Getty Images)

Designer Stella McCartney and actor Jennifer Saunders were at the V&A last night for new exhibition Fashioned from Nature.

Model Arizona Muse said she’d done research into eco fashion. “Sustainability is a burning passion of mine,” she told me. “It’s led me to do more learning in my life than I’ve ever done. Researching it is so much fun. The materials can be morbid but also full of solutions.” She was referring to the unorthodox methods used by designers to substitute certain materials. McCartney, for example, uses mushroom roots to make faux leather.

Green fashion queen Livia Firth, wife of Colin Firth and founder of Eco-Age, was a notable absence. She had spent the afternoon hosting a Commonwealth Fashion Exchange tea party at Claridge’s. Perhaps she’s keeping a low profile — she recently launched a law suit against a former lover and alleged stalker.

The ghost of the Iron Lady returns

Oot and aboot: Justin Trudeaux and Theresa May
NurPhoto via Getty Images

Justin Trudeau took tea with Theresa May in the Downing Street garden yesterday — New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern popped in too. He also posed with his arm around May in front of 10 Downing Street. But it wasn’t the first time he’d met a female Tory PM in the same spot.

Yesterday the Conservative History Group posted a photo on Twitter of Margaret Thatcher, stooping to say hello to a eight-year-old Justin, visiting Downing Street with his father, the then Canadian PM Pierre Trudeau, in 1980. We wonder how he thinks May compares.

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Mary Charteris took to the decks last night to support her aunt, Daphne Guinness, who was launching her new album Daphne & the Golden Chord: It's A Riot at the Imax.

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SW1A

WE’RE looking forward to David Butterfield’s impending history of The Spectator, particularly for the sections relating to Boris Johnson’s editorship between 1999 and 2005. How are those bits coming along? Butterfield says: “That chapter has required a lot of tact.”

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Ian Austin, MP for Dudley North, is fed up that the debacle over Ken Livingstone, who was suspended from the Labour Party for comments he made about Hitler, has not been resolved. “It happened more than two years ago. There has been ample time to deal with it. It is a disgrace it hasn’t been dealt with. Kick him out immediately.”

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LABOUR’S Harriet Harman and Tory Maria Miller have been sporting similar outfits in the House of Commons lately. Harman tweeted a picture of their offending garments yesterday — white blazers — and beseeched Miller: “Please text me outfit pic before you leave home!”

Quote of the Day

'It is not rude to leave, it is rude to make someone stay and waste their time’

Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk sent staff rules for office life, including one where he says you should walk out of boring meetings

Musk do better: Elon Musk
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