Jackie Danicki

Last night, sitting in Pizza Express on Dean Street with some colleagues, who did I see walk past but Mr Peter “Public Interest” Briffa? I ran out of the restaurant, graceful as a swan (I promise!), and caught up with him.

“I was just talking about you!” he said. Hoping against hope that he had been reciting a list of my fine qualities to an audience of influential individuals, I was unsurprised to learn that the subject of discussion - with Perry de Havilland - had been one of my more spectacular mistakes: I once called a “Michael” listed in my mobile’s phone book, intending to ring Michael Jennings, and ended up getting through to Michael Gove. Gove was, at the time, assistant editor of the Times (he’s now MP for Surrey Heath), and I didn’t know him particularly well (read: at all), but had his number because I’m the type of person who collects the phone numbers of people I want to know. (And also, those I don’t: Norman Lamont springs to mind.)

Michael was an absolute darling, and we had a bit of a chat about blogging and how much he enjoys Samizdata, and after a few minutes it was me who finally had to say, “Look, I’m terribly sorry to cut you short, but I’ve got to ring the person I actually wanted to speak with.”

Peter Briffa and Michael Gove: Living proof that not all Tories are clueless gimps.

Filed under: Blogging, People I Know, Politics