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After Sir Keir Starmer appointed him Foreign Secretary, David Lammy said: “I’ve been underestimated all my life.”
However, I have learned that the world’s most widely used online encyclopedia incorrectly claimed for a period that it had a first-class degree.
According to SOAS, University of London, Lammy graduated with a degree in Law in 1993 with honours.
After a career in the legal profession, he was elected to Parliament in a by-election in 2000 and was soon appointed by Tony Blair as Health Minister.
When Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, he handed Lammy the role of Universities Minister.
According to SOAS, University of London, David Lammy graduated in Law in 1993 with a second-class degree, but his Wikipedia page claimed for seven years that he was a first-class.
Over the course of five days in 2010, the year Labour lost the general election, nearly 20 separate edits were made to Lammy’s Wikipedia page, with flattering material added.
A moderator of the website objected to the changes, saying “the site needs protection.”
The moderator added: “I suspect the edits may have come from Lammy’s office or a ‘close follower’.”
The edits can be traced back to two sources: a user called ‘Brownsymeon’, who only edited Lammy’s page and whose account has since been deleted, and an IP address in Westminster.
David Lammy’s degree at SOAS was the subject of much debate on his Wikipedia page.
Although order was eventually restored to the page, the claim that Lammy had achieved a First place continued for seven years.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman declined to comment.
However, Lammy, 52, could be forgiven for being sensitive about his intellect.
His appearance on Celebrity Mastermind in 2008 sparked much ridicule after he finished last in the BBC television quiz show with just 13 points.
The minister did not identify the top tier of theatre seating as “the gods” and suggested that the cheese often eaten with port was red Leicester rather than Stilton.
His great achievement, however, was his assertion that the monarch who succeeded Henry VIII would be “Henry VII.”
Testino’s GQ cover antics
Mario Testino, who took some of Princess Diana’s most famous photographs, has been fired by Vogue and GQ publisher Conde Nast after 13 male models and assistants accused him of misconduct, including sexual assault.
The Peruvian photographer has denied the allegations, but he surely thinks former GQ editor Dylan Jones is adding insult to injury by now bizarrely claiming that the magazine deliberately undersold the 2011 issue of GQ that featured Testino as a cover star.
“We were celebrating a world-famous photographer,” Jones says.
“He demanded that he wanted to be on the cover; we didn’t want to put him on the cover.”
He adds: “We did the smallest print run possible with this person on the cover and we knew where he lived so we just put[the copies]in Notting Hill and Holland Park so if he went to WHSmith he would see himself on the cover… I can tell you what Mario Testino thought about that.”
Mario Testino has been fired from Conde Nast after 13 male models and assistants accused him of misconduct, including sexual assault.
Proposal for Royal Ballet star
Royal Ballet star Francesca Hayward danced for joy after her fellow dancer Cesar Corrales proposed to her at the weekend.
The prima ballerina, 32, was on holiday in Spain with Corrales, 27, when he got down on one knee on the beach in Barcelona.
“I said yes (of course),” Francesca confirms.
Royal Ballet star Francesca Hayward danced for joy after her fellow dancer Cesar Corrales proposed to her at the weekend.
The prima ballerina, 32, was on holiday in Spain with Corrales, 27, when he got down on one knee on the beach in Barcelona.
Nadiya’s test Strictly has good habits!
Mired in controversy after two of its performers left the show following complaints about their behaviour, Strictly Come Dancing looks set to prove it has some sane characters.
As anticipation builds for Strictly’s 20th anniversary event, dancer Nadiya Bychkova attended Sister Act, the light-hearted West End comedy musical about a singer forced to join a convent.
The 34-year-old Ukrainian posed backstage at the Dominion Theatre with Alexandra Burke, 35, winner of The X-Factor, who plays the lead role in the hit show.
“I have my sister by my side,” says Nadiya, who reportedly recently split from her boyfriend, fellow Strictly alum Kai Widdrington.
As anticipation builds for the 20th anniversary of Strictly, dancer Nadiya Bychkova attended Sister Act, starring Alexandra Burke
We take our hats off to Anne
Princess Anne’s decision to wear a bucket hat while watching the Paris Olympics did not impress MasterChef critic William Sitwell.
The baronet’s brother sneered that Anne reflected “our descent into a nation of slackers” by wearing a hat favoured by 1990s “Madchester” rockers.
Ian Brown, who pioneered the style with his band The Stone Roses, tells Sitwell online: ‘William, you look like you’ve stolen a C&A mannequin from 1972.
‘You’re a jealous fool. Kiss me where the sun doesn’t shine.’
I’m sure the princess couldn’t have said it better herself!
Princess Anne’s decision to wear a bucket hat while watching the Paris Olympics did not impress Master Chef critic William Sitwel
New chapter for the bookstore
London’s oldest and most venerable bookshop has never seen anything like it.
On Sunday, Hatchards in Piccadilly hosted the first concert in its 227-year history with a performance by The Bookshop Band, a duo whose fans include authors Margaret Atwood and Philip Pullman.
Their new album was produced by The Who guitarist Pete Townshend in his country studio.
Ben Please from The Bookshop Band comments: “It’s packed with the most extraordinary instruments and synths, even a church organ. We had a lot of fun.”
Stone revolutionizes the auction
Basic Instinct star Sharon Stone once fascinated men but appeared frustrated by the lack of enthusiasm among bidders at a charity auction at the Olympic Sports for Peace Champions Gala in Paris at the weekend.
“I’m the queen of fundraising,” she announced at the Four Seasons George V Hotel. “Let’s raise money really quickly so we can do more great things for more people.”
To add a little excitement, she took off her gold necklace and put it under the hammer, raising €10,000.
“It’s very special to me,” he explained.
The lord is on the island of love
Lord Ivar Mountbatten, who became the first member of the extended Royal Family to enter into a same-sex union in 2018, has felt the need to rubbish rumours that his marriage to James Coyle, director of airline cabin services, has failed.
Sharing pictures online from a ‘mini work break’ together, Lord Ivar, 61, great-nephew of Burma’s first Earl Mountbatten, says: ‘We’re very much together, and as long as he keeps taking me to places like Bermuda for date nights, he’ll remain a must-have!’
Lord Ivar Mountbatten, who became the first member of the extended Royal Family to enter into a same-sex union in 2018, has felt the need to rubbish rumours that his marriage to James Coyle, director of airline cabin services, has crashed.
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