Another Johnson triumph

Nice to know that frivolity still has a function in politics, if only as admirable sang froid in the face of Armageddon. The Bad Sex awards at the In and Out club last night had a Regency air, from the torches outside to the Rowlandson physiques of the burlesque group Satanic Sluts.

Accepting her award for Shire Hell in suitably spunky style, Rachel Johnson whooped up the triumph of a Tory chick over NewLab ninja and Bad Sex also-ran Alastair Campbell. David Cameron’s congratulatory text didn’t quite have the élan of Wellington rising from the Duchess of Richmond’s supper table and asking if anyone had a map, but it was an elegant touch from a man about to go to the front line.