On Tuesday, the former Conservative MP Rory Stewart won GQ’s Politician of the Year award. It was probably the best part of the week for Stewart, who has had the Conservative whip removed and been roundly mocked after posting a series of photographs on Twitter, in which his typical grinning selfie smile disappeared when he was next to one particular individual:
Thank you for coming @lozzaalaurenn and so many others to meet me at Hartlepool pic.twitter.com/j5sXARm8of
— Rory Stewart (@RoryStewartUK) August 29, 2019
It was then revealed that Rory shares the modern affliction of caring deeply about his online presence, clearly liking one image on his website so much that he named it ‘best-pic.jpg’.
Rory’s relationship with the camera was then questioned again, when it emerged that he, unlike the majority of MPs, has no picture on the UK parliament website. Was it indicative of his alleged time on Her Majesty’s Secret Service? Is there some bizarre section of the Official Secrets Act that means Parliament can’t publish his photograph on the division lists?
In fact, Mr S suspects the truth is much simpler: Rory simply doesn’t like his official Parliamentary portrait released in 2017.
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