ONE might think that David Willetts, nicknamed Two Brains by his admiring Tory colleagues, would be the last person to watch reality television shows.
But no. Willetts, a dark horse for the Tory leadership, will be glued to the voting tonight on Big Brother, on Channel 4. One housemate facing eviction is Derek Laud, the first black master of a hunt pack, a Tory party member, briefly and unhappily a parliamentary candidate, and torch bearer for Margaret Thatcher . . . and Willetts.
According to Laud, the Shadow Trade Secretary employed him as a speechwriter. So will Willetts vote to save his friend and muse from eviction?
“Yes, I’ve watched Big Brother,” Two Brains said. “My children are incredibly excited that they have met in our house this guy who is on TV. I think he’s livening things up. He’s a voice of wisdom and maturity.
“Just to be correct: he wasn’t actually employed to write speeches. He was my campaign assistant during the election.”
Would he work with Laud again? “We’ll see. I imagine when he comes out he’ll go straight to Hollywood.”
Black and white TV
TALKING of Big Brother . . . Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, recently hailed it as having done “more for racial and ethnic understanding than any other media creation in recent years”. Word from the set of the US reality series The Apprentice is that Donald Trump is ready to do his bit for racial and ethnic understanding. He wants to pit a team of black people against a team of white people. “Whether people like it or not, it is somewhat reflective of our very vicious world,” Trump said.
TimesonLine
