Simpson’s novel

Remaining friend

JOHN Simpson, the BBC’s world affairs editor, took revenge on a former boss by portraying an “unfavourable” version of him in his new book.

Instead of making “a public fuss” and shouting “about ageism” when his boss was trying to force him out of the BBC, “I wrote a novel”, he says.

Moscow, Midnight was published in October. “I started writing my current book at a time when the then head of BBC AS Brexit drama unfurled yesterday morning, The Londoner was with Remain campaigner Gina Miller at the Bazaar Summit at Sotheby’s. Perhaps surprisingly, she had sympathy for the PM. “On a personal level I have so much admiration for her,” she says. “I have no idea how she’s doing this. And people forget she has diabetes: she’s not meant to have stress.”

She added: “Now at least it goes back to Parliament. [May] would have just pushed through this deal, which is so terrible. I think it’s not actually about her, because anybody trying to do this deal would have found it impossible.” News was trying to force me out,” Simpson (far left) says.

“This boss appeared unflatteringly in it... t h e re a s o n wr i t i n g novels is bad for your mental stability is that it turns you temporarily into God. You decide which of your creations lives and dies, who suffers and who is made to look like an idiot.” Simpson does not

MODEL Leomie Anderson was on Regent Street last night for the launch of the Curiosity Rooms, a “discovery hub” created by Google Pixel 3. Professor Green and Munroe Bergdorf were among the guests, as was Scarlett Curtis, the journalist and daughter of romcom writer Richard Curtis and Emma Freud. She had launched her own pop-up at Topshop on Oxford Street last month, selling her new book Feminists Don’t Wear Pink, but it was abruptly removed.Shortly afterwards, brand owner Philip Green was named in the Lords as the businessman at the centre of “Britain’s #MeToo scandal”. “Philip Green, money can’t save you. The feminists are coming and they’re wearing pink,” Curtis tweeted in the aftermath. The Google event coincided with a hive of activity in the area: dancer Eric Underwood and retail entrepreneur Harold Tillman were at the launch of fashion brand Isaia’s new London flagship on Conduit Street.

LORD Linley and designer Jasper Conran were among those at St James’s Church in Piccadilly yesterday for antique dealer Christopher Gibbs’s memorial service. Said to be the inventor of Swinging London, he had an indelible impact on Mick Jagger. Sitting at one of Gibbs’s dinner parties, he was asked what had brought him there. “I’m here to learn how to be a gentleman,” he replied.