Angela Rayner drops out of Glastonbury lineup
Londoner’s Diary
The election has scuppered many summer plans, and now it’s come for Glastonbury. A host of MPs were set to speak on the festival’s Left Field stage but have quietly dropped off the lineup. Shadow deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner will no longer appear on a panel called “Election 2024: A Change is Gonna Come”, nor will former Green party leader Caroline Lucas. Nadia Whittome, who is standing for re-election as a Labour MP, has also been replaced for a talk about small boats. The Left Field lineup is organised by singer Billy Bragg and invites festivalgoers to “recharge your activism”, but clearly the campaign trail comes first.
A number of other politicians have given up their hospitality tickets in order to focus on the election. Are they missing a trick? During the 2017 election, Jeremy Corbyn got the biggest crowd since the Rolling Stones during his Pyramid Stage speech, with over 100,000 people chanting “Oh, Jeremy Corbyn!”. Is this what Sir Keir Starmer means by a “changed Labour party”?
Cameron’s a shy Swiftie
It seems like every public figure wants the world to know that they saw Taylor Swift at Wembley. Prince William, Keir Starmer and Hugh Grant showed off about catching the Eras tour, sharing pictures and gushing tributes on X to the pop star. Piers Morgan went even further, writing a 1,000 word article about how much he loved the show. But one person hiding his Swiftie credentials under a bushel is Lord David Cameron. The Foreign Secretary was spotted keeping a low profile at the show over the weekend by a TikTok user, who posed for a selfie with him. Apparently he didn’t know the words to any of the songs except Love Story and remained seated for most of the show.
