The Londoner: ‘Warring factions’ at Spectator after Dom’s departure

In today’s Londoner: Frayed tempers at the Spectator / Steve McQueen shut down filming / BBC counselling services / Emma Corrin’s tree disappointment / Westminster and WFH / Sunak’s wife on Dishy Rishi
Dominic Cummings, former special adviser to U.K. prime minister Boris Johnson,
Bloomberg via Getty Images
16 November 2020

The fallout from Dominic Cummings’s exit from Downing Street has spread out of No10, leading to “warring factions” at the nearby Spectator magazine between the key players’ spouses.

Mr Cummings’s wife Mary Wakefield, who is the Spectator’s commissioning editor, is said to be “fuming” that her husband left his job as the PM’s chief adviser after a falling out with No 10 colleagues including Allegra Stratton, who is the PM’s new spokesperson.  

The conflict comes because Ms Stratton is married to the Spectator’s political editor James Forsyth, which one colleague said made things “awkward” in the office. Ms Stratton, who started her new role this month, is said to have had a hand in the departure of former comms chief Lee Cain and Mr Cummings last week.

Mr Forsyth wrote a positive blog about Mr Cummings soon after his departure, calling him “one of those rare individuals who has bent the arc of history”, which left Ms Wakefield unimpressed. Mr Cummings was sometimes seen at the Spectator’s office, a short walk from Downing Street.

The well-connected Spectator, once edited by Boris Johnson, has a history of political drama. Editor Fraser Nelson might be planning an online  Christmas party this year.

McQueen halted filming over black crew shortage 

Steve McQueen paused filming of Small Axe
Dave Benett

Steve McQueen paused filming of his new Small Axe anthology because he wasn’t “comfortable making [it] without a black crew”. There were four black heads of department in London but “there was no one” when production moved to Wolverhampton, McQueen told Sight and Sound magazine, so work stopped to find new personnel. The director said the state of the industry is “just not good enough” and that lack of opportunity means lost talent. “We’ve lost our Katharine Hepburns. We’ve lost our Marlon Brandos,” he said. “They’re all doing other jobs.”

Campbell’s doggy shoulder to cry on 

Daily Mirror & RSPCA Animal Hero Awards - Red Carpet Arrivals
Nicky Campbell says he has regularly ‘burst into tears’
Getty Images

The BBC has encouraged staff affected by the emotion of the pandemic to use internal counselling services, they tell us. Nicky Campbell says he has regularly “burst into tears” after presenting the 5 Live Breakfast show — but is relying on his golden retriever Maxwell for support.

I can’t believe I’m a tree in my Di debut! 

Emma Corrin’s Diana first appearing onscreen
Netflix

The Crown’s Emma Corrin was disappointed that her first scene as Princess Diana has her wearing a green leotard, leaves and bark for a school play. “I can’t believe that’s the first thing anyone’s going to see me in,” she told Vulture. “The most hyped series, and they see me as a tree.”

SW1A

With Boris Johnson self-isolating after meeting an  MP who has tested positive for Covid-19, perhaps other members should work from home, as they did in the first lockdown? Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle  tells The House magazine his preference is for a return to WFH as “we know it worked” but concedes: “It’s not my decision… I don’t want to fall out with everybody”. The power rests with Leader of the House Jacob Rees-Mogg. Time for a rethink?

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Rishi Sunak says it is a “struggle to know whether to be happy or not” with his “Dishy Rishi” moniker. The dashing Chancellor tells Ladbible it’s a good thing if he can “connect with people”  but says his billionaire heiress wife Akshata Murthy “has a strong point of view” on the nickname. Hands off.

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