The Londoner: Countdown Rachel has trolls' number

Michael Gove's non-disposables disposed / Wes Streeting's Drag Race disappointment / Rachel Riley tussles with Twitter trolls 
Rachel Riley
Dave Benett/Getty Images
15 February 2019

More targeting of Countdown’s Rachel Riley after Twitter campaign Labour Left Voice posted a fake image of Riley apparently sharing an Islamophobic cartoon of a bearded man in a skullcap standing on the niqab-clad bodies of women.

Riley said she was “absolutely appalled” and added: “It’s targeted harassment, and we all know why” — referring to her criticism of anti-Semitism in Labour.

Labour Left Voice has deleted the tweet but said it was “sent to us by our Muslim friend who we respect highly” and added: “We did not post it first.”

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The George Tavern has been saved again. The East End pub has won a ruling from Tower Hamlets that prevents neighbours in a nearby development from complaining about noise. The Tavern, which has stood on Whitechapel’s Jubilee Road since the Middle Ages, had previously fought off developers with the help of Kate Moss and Sir Ian McKellen.

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The Tavern isn’t the only London boozer backed by the rich and the famous. Guy Ritchie’s new Lore of the Land pub in Fitzrovia also has celebrity glamour. But customers there won’t find pork scatchings behind the bar — Ritchie, like his ex-wife Madonna, is a follower of Kabbalah, which bans the consumption of pork.

Camilla sparkles as Liam's girl points out a rebellious trait

Camilla Rutherford lit up the Burlington Arcade last night as she attended the Deborah Lyons AW19 Show London Fashion Week.

The actress and model, who wore an elegant houndstooth dress, recently starred opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in the Oscar-nominated film A Phantom Thread.

Also spotted under the Arcade’s stucco arches was food blogger Tess Ward, who is said to be dating pop prince Harry Styles.

Across town, the children of the stars were out in force. Molly Moorish and Dylan Weller, daughters of Liam Gallagher and Paul Weller respectively, were at the Adidas x Fiorucci launch party, which was held in partnership with Dazed magazine at The Box theatre in Soho.

Moorish has told Vogue: “My most-used emojis are the hug, the eye roll and, obviously, the middle finger. I’m happy that’s now a thing.”

That’s what you call keeping up the family brand.

SW1A

Getty Images

Michael Gove gifted Cabinet members reusable coffee cups in January 2018 but few colleagues have been spotted going into Cabinet meetings with the cups since. Liz Truss and Matt Hancock were pictured valiantly taking theirs out until around March. But nul points for Chief Whip Julian Smith and former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, who have been snapped with disposable plastic cups. Surely the reusable cups weren’t just a throwaway fad?

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Wes Streeting MP laments that he and SNP MP Stewart McDonald weren’t picked as judges on the UK edition of TV show RuPaul’s Drag Race. Streeting has a plan, though, and tells The Londoner: “I’ve written to Ru in the hope that we can enjoy a different Queen’s Speech in the Palace of Westminster.” Streeting adds his drag name would be “Eileen Toodaleft”, McDonald’s “Diva Lution” and cheekily wonders: “Maybe we could get Bercow involved. Lauren Order?”

Tom, still at the pop coalface 53 years on

Welsh crooner Tom Jones recalls driving his new “red Jag” home one weekend in 1966 and finding his father about to head to work. “I said, ‘You can’t go to work on a Sunday night,’” Jones remembers telling him, but his father replied: “I’m a coal miner, I’m working.” Feeling guilty, Jones promised his father he could help him retire with his showbusiness earnings. But Jones tells George Ezra’s podcast his dad asked: “Well, yeah, but how long is it going to last, pop music?”

Quote of the day

'How does this end?'

Alison McGovern MP asks a question for the nation after last night's latest Government defeat on Brexit

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