PETERBOROUGH

MCC insults elderly members

Outrage at the Home of Cricket. Marylebone Cricket Club bosses offended elderly members with an “unacceptable” remark during the MCC’S stormy annual general meeting at Lord’s three weeks ago. A 10-minute “comfort break” during the two-hour meeting – dominated by protests at the axing of the annual Harrow vs Eton and Varsity matches – ran over by two minutes. This prompted one of the committee members on stage reportedly to remark: “It’s taking them ages to empty all those colostomy bags.” The comment was picked up on a live microphone and heard by members unable to get to the AGM.

The MCC last night said the comment was “unacceptable” and said “the individual in question” has made a donation to the charity Colostomy UK. A MCC spokesman told me: “While it was a poor attempt at humour, it was not in keeping with our values. An unreserved apology has been made to the small number of Members who have contacted the Club and the Committee.” Not cricket at all.

Labour’s new Clean Bandit

Rachel Reeves’ new policy adviser Neil Amin-smith, right, has another string to his bow: he is a founding member of the Grammy-winning electronic band Clean Bandit, whose song Rather Be is the theme on those Marks & Spencer food adverts. Former Treasury adviser Amin-smith, who played the violin for the band, has been working on “growth policy” for Reeves, a mole tells me. Her team was keen to stress that Amin-smith quit Clean Bandit two years before it headlined “Labour Live”, the short-lived Jeremy Corbyn festival in 2018. How times change!

Beware Kit’s eye rolls

Kit Malthouse, Boris Johnson’s old friend from City Hall, is rapidly emerging as the unsung hero of Cabinet meetings. Whenever civil servants try to bounce the PM into a non-conservative idea, Johnson glances at the policing minister who performs an elaborate eye roll to register his distaste. Other times he mutters “tax cuts” under his breath when new ideas are asked for.

The situation is so serious that officials are now trying to move the former deputy London mayor out of the PM’S eyeline at future Cabinet meetings. Malthouse must hold his ground.

Sue Gray’s weather game

You too can party like Boris Johnson’s Downing Street staff! One of the leaked Whatsapp message threads in the Sue Gray report revealed plans for a Secret Santa, presents, a quiz, a jokey speech and something called the weather game. A Downing St insider gets in touch to explain more: “It’s an old Whitehall game – someone says a place in the world, whether it’s sunny or cloudy or whatever and people have to guess the temperature.” Don’t try this at home or Gray might come knocking.

Sir Graham’s record

Congratulations to Sir Graham Brady who this week became the longest serving chairman of the 1922 Committee, which represents backbench Tory MPS. Sir Graham, who has held the role for 12 years, outstripping his predecessor Sir Edward du Cann, declined to tell me which PM he got on best with. “They’ve all been very, very different in style,” he said on my Chopper’s Politics podcast, below. “David Cameron would sit with his shoes off and his feet up on the coffee table, his hands behind his head. It certainly was not like that with Theresa May. We would have tea in china cups. It was all very formal.” Sir Graham was less forthcoming on how many letters of no confidence have been submitted about Boris Johnson’s leadership. “It has slipped my mind,” he said with a grin.

Eton funds LGBTQ waistcoats

Remember the gay pride waistcoats which senior boys at Eton have started to wear? An old boy gets in touch to say that these “political” items of clothing were actually bought for the “Pop” students by the school. He tells me: “Apparently BLM and rainbow waistcoats were put in the Pop room for Poppers to wear. Normally, boys buy their own.”

Eton does not deny the claim. A spokesman says: “Eton has a long tradition of allowing boys in Pop to choose their own waistcoats. If some, of their own initiative, choose to wear waistcoats to demonstrate their support for LGBTQ equality, then they do so with the school’s full support.”