PETERBOROUGH

Case to answer?

Whatsapp messages sent to top civil servant Simon Case, below, with Matt Hancock, are now being deleted automatically, and Rachel Johnson is concerned. After all in late 2020, Case described her brother Boris as a “distrusted figure” in leaked Whatsapps from Matt Hancock’s phone.

She told a conference this week: “I had to be in contact with Simon Case about something a month or so ago. When I was Whatsapping him, my Whatsapps disappeared because he’s now set his phone so that all his Whatsapps disappear immediately. There’s no record of all the things he’s said to me.”

The Cabinet Office insists the autodelete function has been in place on his personal phone – but not on his work device – since December 2021, well before the Hancock leak. And any messages from Case relating to government business are preserved for the record.

Sue’ll Never Walk Alone

Sue Johnston, right, the Downton Abbey actress, has a soft spot for Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, whose team were knocked out of the Champions’ League this week.

They both received the Freedom of the City of Liverpool on the same day last year. “He introduced me to some German friends of his. I spoke German to them, and he went, ‘Aha, and she speaks German, too!’”

In her Cheshire home, Johnston, 79, has a framed photo with him from that event, recalling: “When this happened, I felt things I hadn’t felt for many years!” She even has her own Jurgen joke.

She adds: “Jurgen Klopp got done for speeding. He’d do anything for three points!” I think she was joking.

Brexit is done

Jeremy Hunt – who, like me, is hoping to run next month’s London Marathon – was trying to be nice to former BBC presenters Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel when he was interviewed for their popular News Agents podcast.

“I mean, I do listen to your podcast and I enjoy it. I listen to it when I’m training for the marathon,” he said. “But I do have this sense, if I have one tiny criticism, that you want to relitigate the whole Brexit debate over and over again.” Perhaps Brexit really is done.

My Irish bet

The Irish embassy in Mayfair was bathed in green light and the Guinness was flowing for the annual St Patrick’s Day party, held two days early on Wednesday night.

Embassy official Michael Lonergan said it was “St Patrick’s week”, with the Irish out in force at the Cheltenham Festival and today’s rugby showdown against England in Dublin. “This is Christmas for grown-ups,” he said. Martin Fraser, the ambassador, even disclosed a bet I made with him at the party. “The bet is a double – the DUP to re-enter the institutions and Ireland to win the grand slam,” he told the 200 guests. Fraser swore me to secrecy on the actual terms. “We will see who is drinking two pints at some point this year – one of us will be right,” he said. Sláinte, Martin!

Car for Brady!

Sir Graham Brady, the outgoing chairman of the 1922 Committee, who has seen off three Tory prime ministers, isn’t short of an anecdote.

After telling Liz Truss her time was up last October, Sir Graham stayed in No 10 while officials worked out the formalities, prompting inaccurate speculation that he was locked in interminable talks with Truss. Brady then asked for a lift back to Parliament to avoid the journalists gathered outside. A nervous staffer queried whether a government car could be provided for a non-minister.

Brady gently told him: “You know I have done this before?” Needless to say, the car was quickly arranged.

Desperately seeking royalty

The Royal Society of British Artists, which marked its 200th anniversary this year with a special exhibition at the

Mall Galleries, is without a royal patron.

The late Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, is thought to have been the last royal to be a patron of the society which once counted Winston Churchill, above, painting in Miami in 1946, James Mcneill Whistler, LS Lowry, Henry Moore and Bridget Riley as members. Mick Davies, the president, tells me: “We have tried several times to get royals interested without success.”

Buckingham Palace says that a review of existing royal patronages will include requests for new ones. So there is still hope for the artists!