Boris Johnson and the ‘Aztec death ray’

As Mr Steerpike reported late last night, the gloves were off between Russell Brand and Charles Moore at the GQ Man of the Year awards. But that was not the only fight to split the audience. After American comedian Seth MacFarlane’s disastrous turn at this year’s Oscars, you would have thought that award ceremony hosts might be wary of musical numbers. Yet that did not stop Rob Brydon bursting into song about Stephen Fry’s recent suicide attempt, warbling that the National Treasure could not be left alone with ‘vodka and pills’. A shaky start to say the least, which was not helped by a bad Eric Pickles joke that left most of the stellar audience scratching their heads wondering who this Pickles bloke was.

Brydon warmed up when the time approached to ‘start honouring those people who, to be honest, already know they have won.’ Those people included Tom Ford, Eddie Redmayne, Piers Morgan, Emma Watson and Indy owner Evgeny Lebedev.