‘Florence of Belgravia’ tripped up in Brick Lane

My favourite story of late concerns mayoral candidate Rory Stewart coming a cropper while trying to sell himself as “street”, at the expense of some young black men in east London. Recalling the incident last week, he declared: “One thing about social media is it allows people to see politicians listening… I can go to Brick

Lane and three sort of minor gangsters can come up to me and spend a minute telling me I’m an idiot.”

Said “minor gangsters”, in reality two of whom are from the Irish rap group Hare Squead, were less than impressed with this description. One of them, Lilo Blues, told a journalist: “I saw this opportunistic white man had noticed us three black lads and he’s getting giddy, and tells his camera, ‘Let’s go’… and then there’s the awkward conversation…

“It’s just another example of another weirdo white man trying to take advantage of black boys when it’s convenient, then ridiculing them… I’m not a gangster, I’m not pretending to be, and I’m not going to let some corny, goofy-looking man say

I am.” His bandmate, Tony Konstone, added: “The irony is he’s running for mayor of London. He judged us in about 15 seconds.”

Readers may be reminded of the rumblings that a certain amount of pudding over-egging has taken place regarding the Stewart biography. His claim to know “what it feels like to be in the Army” involves a gap-yah stint in which he did not see active service. Our hero’s role in Iraq can sound more glamorous than time spent as a mid-ranking Foreign Office official would suggest. And his trek in Afghanistan has been dismissed as akin to a month’s walking holiday.

This has all earned Stewart the nickname “Florence of Belgravia”. Now we can add: “by way of Brick Lane”.