Stephen Fry 'boycotts Labour bash due to Gambaccini snub'
One-time Labour luvvie backs out of gala dinner at protest over treatment of BBC DJ

What would General Melchett say? Stephen Fry, famous for his role as the blustering general in the Blackadder series, has apparently fired a salvo at Labour for upsetting one of his friends.
The Independent reports that Fry was due to be one of the VIPs at a Labour Party election gala dinner at the Roundhouse where tables for ten are being offered at £15,000. (If that's beyond your wallet, it's £500 for an individual ticket or a mere £100 to attend the after party.)
Buying a table will enable donors to rub shoulders with members of the shadow cabinet and perhaps bend their ears about what they want to see in Labour’s manifesto.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
While some Blairite Labour MPs have been complaining that Ed Miliband and Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls are seen as “anti-business", the dinner is likely to attract businessmen keen to influence the direction of the next Labour government over such issues as the NHS budget for pharmaceutical drugs.
Fry, previously a Labour luvvie, was expected to join Labour leader Ed Miliband at the Roundhouse event on 9 July. However, he's said to be boycotting it in protest at Paul Gambaccini being left off the guest list for a previous fund-raiser.
The BBC radio DJ, who is 65, was arrested in October as part of Operation Yewtree on suspicion of historical sexual offences. The fact that he was later released on bail and has never been charged with any offence has received a lot less publicity than the original arrest.
Gambaccini, a long-standing Labour sympathiser, had been expecting an invitation – but when it arrived it was for his partner Christopher Sherwood only.
The DJ is said to have been upset by this clear snub and Fry sympathised. According to the Independent, “Labour’s hopes of getting the comic and national treasure to their 9 July event are fading, though Alastair Campbell is trying to mend fences.”
Whether Campbell is the best man for that job is a moot point. Fry was once an active Labour supporter and appeared in a party political broadcast with Hugh Laurie, one of his Blackadder co-stars, in 1993. But he did not vote in 2005 in protest at Blair’s support for the Iraq war - which Campbell famously backed to the hilt.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
What should you be stockpiling for 'World War Three'?
In the Spotlight Britons advised to prepare after the EU tells its citizens to have an emergency kit just in case
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
Carnivore diet: why people are eating only meat
The Explainer 'Meatfluencers' are taking social media by storm but experts warn meat-only diets have health consequences
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
Scientists want to fight malaria by poisoning mosquitoes with human blood
Under the radar Drugging the bugs
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
The tribes battling it out in Keir Starmer's Labour Party
The Explainer From the soft left to his unruly new MPs, Keir Starmer is already facing challenges from some sections of the Labour Party
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Are we on the brink of a recession?
Today's Big Question Britain's shrinking economy is likely to upend Rachel Reeves' Spring Statement spending plans
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Has Starmer put Britain back on the world stage?
Talking Point UK takes leading role in Europe on Ukraine and Starmer praised as credible 'bridge' with the US under Trump
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Left on read: Labour's WhatsApp dilemma
Talking Point Andrew Gwynne has been sacked as health minister over messages posted in a Labour WhatsApp group
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Peter Mandelson: can he make special relationship great again?
In the Spotlight New Labour architect, picked for his 'guile, expertise in world affairs and trade issues, and networking skills', on a mission to woo Donald Trump
By The Week UK Published
-
Will Keir Starmer have to choose between the EU and the US?
Today's Big Question Starmer's 'reset' with the EU will focus on 'defence for trade' but an 'EU-hating' president in the White House could cause the PM trouble
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Why has Tulip Siddiq resigned?
In Depth Economic secretary to the Treasury named in anti-corruption investigations in Bangladesh
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
What's Elon Musk's agenda with Europe's far-right politics?
Today's Big Question From broadsides against the UK government to boosting Germany's ultra-nationalist AFD party, the world's richest man is making waves across the Atlantic
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published