Dog days of the Edinburgh Fringe

UP TO Edinburgh for the end of the annual Fringe festival. Among the gems in the line-up were comic Geoff Norcott. He staged a show, Conswervative [sic] about being the only “out” Tory on the circuit.

Reviewers noted that he was a brave man to do this among comedians and Scots. Much braver than one recent audience member sitting in the front row. At a point in the show where the punter was asked if he might vote Tory, he shyly muttered “Maybe.”

Turns out the man in question was Sheridan Westlake. As one of Theresa May’s top spads, recipient of an OBE in Cameron’s honours list for services to the former PM and one of the Telegraph’s 100-most influential Right-wingers, one would hope he’d upgrade that “maybe” to a “yes”. Later in the show, when Norcott made up a story suggesting that in post-truth politics Tories could make stuff up, Westlake went in for a high-five. But even more barking is the news that Alan Cumming, in town with his award-winning cabaret show, had Nicola Sturgeon, pictured, in his audience and took his dog Lala to meet her afterwards. “Nicola is actually terrified of dogs,” he told The Scotsman. “I didn’t know they were her kryptonite. But she actually said that because Lala is very lovely and very soothing, it was the first dog she had ever felt safe with.” Will he try it on Merkel next?