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The Spectator's notes

Charles Moore

Wednesday, 24th October 2007

Charles Moore's thoughts on the week

In the new edition of Anthony Seldon’s biography of Tony Blair, there are revelations about how Gordon Brown’s team, especially Ed Balls, urged him to conduct a coup against his leader and were furious with him for ‘bottling’ it. The way the participants spoke to one another was, as reported, unlovely. Seemingly copied from gangster films or football, the language was aggressive and playground show-off. The newspapers had to keep on asterisking parts of the words used e.g. s***, f******. I think they should take it one further and protect our sensitive eyes from the obscene people involved. In future, we should read about Gordon B****, Charlie F*****er, Alistair C******* and, of course, Ed B****.

It is fascinating that Tony and Cherie B**** are thinking of buying Winslow Hall. It is a very large and beautiful house within an hour of London, almost certainly built by Sir Christopher Wren. The house is unusual in having its own chapel which serves as the local Catholic parish church. The former Conservative leader, Iain Duncan Smith, worships there. Despite wanting to visit in conditions of secrecy, Mrs B****, I gather, turned up at Sunday Mass, and so attracted attention. The next week, both B****s came to view the house. It costs £3 million, a low price for such a place because it needs a good deal of work doing, but an enormous amount of money for a couple who, until recently, were earning no more than £400,000 a year between them and are already borrowing, it is reported, more than £2 million for their house in Connaught Square. I hope the B****s buy Winslow Hall. It is a good thing for an ex-Prime Minister to have somewhere swish, and the chapel will allow Tony to continue in his Vicar of St Albion’s role. But I cannot resist vulgar curiosity about how they can possibly pay for it. This column has pointed out before that John M**** and Tony B****, the first Prime Ministers to force MPs and peers to make a full register of their interests, quickly left the Commons after stepping down and refused to go to the Lords, so we have no right to know where the money is coming from. But I do wonder what undertakings the B****s gave while Tony was still in office in return for the prospect of his dream homes.