Riddle of the Tory MP accused of abandoning his love child...
A PROMINENT Tory MP is believed to be worried his past is going to come back to haunt him after the woman he allegedly abandoned as a baby threatened to “blow his life apart”.
Decades after she was given up for adoption the woman, named only as “Michelle”, broke her silence, ringing the LBC radio show to threaten to name him in public.
The politician allegedly abandoned the mother and his daughter when she was a baby and has never revealed the truth about his past since he became an MP.
Speaking for the first time in public about the unnamed man she claims is her father, she said: “I was adopted from a young age and I’ve always SALES of classical music have surged 10 per cent in the past year, driven by the likes of Katherine Jenkins, Andrea Bocelli and royal wedding cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, figures show.
BBC Radio 3’s Music Matters revealed yesterday that
2.23 million classical albums were purchased, downloaded or streamed in the past 12 months.
The 10 per cent rise is almost double the 5.7 per cent increase in the market as a whole.
A large part of the classical success story was driven by CD sales, which saw a 6.9 per cent rise, accounting for nearly
60 per cent of consumption.
Streaming saw a 42 per cent rise. Downloads were the only format where demand fell, with digital albums declining by
13.4 per cent.
Seven of the top 30 best-selling classical album in 2018 were film soundtracks.
Music by Italian pianist and composer Ludovico Einaudi accounted for one in 12 UK classical streams.
Also highly streamed in
2018 were Jenkins and Bocelli, who achieved the biggest selling classical album in six years and the first classical number one album in 21 years.
Music Matters presenter Tom Service, said: “The known who my biological family were because my parents were really honest with me about it. I knew names.
“My biological mum is dead now but my dad is a Conservative MP. He was not a very nice man at all.”
Michelle chose not to reveal her full identity but she hinted she wanted to go public about her father.
She told LBC radio: “Even though my adoptive parents, I love them to pieces and they are beyond amazing, there is a tiny bit of me that thinks DEEP-VOICED rocker George Ezra, pictured, is tipped to be a big winner at this year’s Brit Awards.
Nominations were announced yesterday with the 25-year-old singer up for best British male, best British single for Shotgun and British album of the year for Staying At Tamara’s.
Other acts among the nominations are Anne-Marie, Dua Lipa, Little Mix and The 1975.
The ceremony will take place at London’s O2 Arena on February 20.
news of this leap in consumption of classical is a great start to the year. It feels as though we’re beginning to witness the impact of this new generation of young artists who really took to centre stage last year – such as saxophonist Jess Gillam at the Last Night of the Proms, and former BBC Young Musician winner Sheku Kanneh-Mason, performing at the royal wedding.
“This news is quite literally music to the ears.” Ginny Cooper, co-chair of the British Phonographic Industry’s classical committee and classical consultant with Proper Distribution, said: “These figures reflect a very good year for classical music, ‘blow my biological dad’s life apart a little bit’.” Michelle has had no contact with him but admitted she kept a close eye on his career in politics. She said: “I follow him on Twitter. We all follow him. My adoptive family, we all follow him on Facebook and keep up to date with the newspaper and see what he’s up to and everything.”
Michelle said she was inspired to speak out after she read about the ordeal of businessman Richard Mason, 55, who went public last weekend over his paternity ordeal.
She said: “In a small way I can understand why the man went to
underscoring a healthy rise in demand for the genre across key formats.
“It is encouraging to see CD and streams thrive alongside each other, showing that collectability and discovery are simply different sides of the same coin, and wonderful too to witness an exciting new generation of diverse, music talent breaking through.”
As a baby, Katherine Jenkins’s daughter Aaliyah was always upset if her mother broke into song.
But now the three-year-old loves it when her Welsh mezzosoprano mother sings to her.
Jenkins, in today’s S magazine, said: “When I put her to bed she likes me to sing Never Enough from The Greatest Showman.
“Singing has become important in that way.
“Whether it’s the theatre, ballet or one of my concerts, she loves it.
“My children don’t have any clue that singing is what I do for other people.” the papers.” However, she added: “He’s just doing it to be spiteful and a heat of the moment ‘I’m really angry and this is the way I’m going to get back at you’.
“I feel so sorry for the man. It must be devastating for him.”
Mr Mason discovered his three sons were not his biological children when his doctor revealed he was infertile.
It also emerged Mr Mason, from Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, sued his former wife over it and won a £250,000 settlement.
He said: “In an instant I discovered I didn’t really have any children... if I could wave a magic wand, I would want to be in all their lives.”