TO BLACKPOOL, where the Tories have been holding their conference in a beach hut. Andrew Turner, former grant-maintained schools cheerleader and now with the right-wing Institute of Economic Affairs, was much in evidence, sharing platforms with among others Chris Woodhead.
As ever, he’s been neatly turned-out - and now we know how. His fiancee, Carol, was spotted in the bar of their hotel, pressing his shirts on a borrowed ironing board.
The Diary applauds this display of traditional Tory family values.
Carol is certainly unabashed when asked about it later. “It was just our hotel,” she says. “It wasn’t the Imperial.” The Imperial, of course, is the grand old hotel once favoured by prime ministers, where the party hierarchy stayed this week. Pity. We’re sure Ffion would have been impressed.
