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.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
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
-
Men in Gray suits: why the plots against Starmer's top adviser?
Today's Big Question Increasingly damaging leaks about Sue Gray reflect 'bitter acrimony' over her role and power struggle in new government
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Is Britain about to 'boil over'?
Today's Big Question A message shared across far-right groups listed more than 30 potential targets for violence in the UK today
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
UK's Starmer slams 'far-right thuggery' at riots
Speed Read The anti-immigrant violence was spurred by false rumors that the suspect in the Southport knife attack was an immigrant
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
The Tamils stranded on 'secretive' British island in Indian Ocean
Under the Radar Migrants 'unlawfully detained' since 2021 shipwreck on UK-controlled Diego Garcia, site of important US military base
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Labour's first week in power
In the Spotlight The NHS, prisons and housing are at the top of a to-do list which risks crashing into 'wall of economic reality'
By The Week UK Published
-
Britain's Labour Party wins in a landslide
Speed Read The Conservatives were unseated after 14 years of rule
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
General election: Britain heads to the polls
In depth Voters have remained 'curiously unengaged' throughout a campaign which seems to many like a foregone conclusion
By The Week UK Published