Tory blues

I woke up this morning to find the Conservatives have come third place in both by-elections. How the world has changed. When I first entered Parliament in 1969 it was not uncommon for the opposition party to overturn even the largest majorities during the mid-term. I'm about to read the morning papers to find out what the political experts make of it.

Ian Botham has invited me to join him in his box at Lords on Saturday, but looking out of the window, perhaps it should have been Sir Steven Redgrave - they're more likely to have rowing at Lords than cricket.

Opening Day

Attended the opening day of the Test Match at Lords yesterday. England won the toss and as you all now know, batted steadily, reaching 268 for 4. Vaughan and Pietersen left the pitch at 5.25pm because of bad light. Can't say I blame them, but on the way home I heard John Major, who was also present at the match, talking about his new book (More Than A Game). When asked about the match, he commented that the fact that the Indians could only manage 13 overs an hour was not very impressive, remembering people had paid £60 to watch them. I agree with the former PM, but it will be interesting to see if England do any better.

Joseph's Dreamcoat

Mary and I went to the opening night of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at the Adelphi Theatre, and during the first half the stage mechanism broke down, which rather put a dampener on act one. I saw Bill Kenwright (the producer) during the interval and he looked very glum. No need - the second half was full of life and great fun, which the critics reflected the following morning.

Great causes, good evening

Off to the Hilton last night for a boxing event and charity dinner arranged by MINT. A Hard Night At The Hilton raised £101,000 for two charities, The Children No.1 Foundation (which helps the Evelina Children's Hospital) and CHIPS (which provides powered wheelchairs for young children who do not qualify for one from the NHS). Boxing is not one of my favourite sports, but it was clear that the crowd of 600 were enjoying the blood-letting, and I came away feeling a lot happier than I had the previous evening. The evening's spotters/helpers/money collectors - 14 bright beautiful girls - were the best I've worked with. One tiny blemish - whenever I do an auction at Grosvenor House or the Dorchester, they understand that I am there to work not to sit and enjoy dinner, and very kindly supply me with a light soup and steak. The Hilton insisted they had to stick to the menu, despite the fact that the organisers must have spent thousands of pounds with them - which is what London used to be like 20 years ago - and I'm surprised that something as simple as cooking a steak was beyond them.

Supercars and Formula 1

Went to the Hurlingham Club in Fulham last night to conduct an auction at the Salon Prive event in aid of Tommy's and Great Ormand Street. The function was hosted by Mr Ron Dennis CBE, the CEO of the McLaren Group and he also did a Q&A session with the editor in chief of F1 magazine to a well-informed audience of fans (250). As I've never been a sports car fanatic, it was fascinating to hear about the world of Lewis Hamilton and the current champion Fernando Alonso, who are both in Mr Dennis' team. On the back lawn was a display of supercars - Bentley's, Ferraris, Lambourghinis and Lotus, but I must confess that when I drove home later than night in my mini, I had no desire to own one of the monsters - however beautiful they are. We raised £31,500 for the two good causes which was rather disappointing as I felt given that some people in the room could afford to spend a quarter of a million on a motor car they might have turned out to be big bidders - whereas in fact I had to rely on just half a dozen generous souls to keep the bidding going. Off to the Hilton tonight to do an auction on behalf of Children No.1 Foundation and CHIPS Charity, and will report again tomorrow.

Monday theatre club

My theatre club went to the Donmar last night to see Harold Pinter's 'Betrayal'. Rather than rave on about the acting of Sam West, Toby Stephens and Dervla Kirwan, let me simply say that it's only on until 21st July, and if you're a real theatre fan, t'would be foolish to miss it. Pinter at his best.

Sporting highlights

What a weekend of sport. Finals day at Wimbledon, the Tour de France in London, and the last of the one day internationals at Headingley. I thought the men's singles final was one of the best matches I've ever seen, up there with Borg versus McEnroe and Laver versus Hode (for older readers). Nadal must be sitting in bed this morning cursing the fact that on two occasions he had Federer on 15 40 and didn't get the break, but like all great gladiatorial spectaculars, it takes two for the occasion to be memorable. We all must have enjoyed the half British victory in the mixed doubles, especially as they began the tournament unseeded. I wonder if they'll play together for the rest of their lives?

I'm sure the Tour de France was a massive success for the millions who turned out to watch it, but for many citizens, it was impossible to get anywhere in central London in under an hour.

The cricket was yet another disaster - why do we do so well in test matches (with the exception of the Australians) and so badly in one-day internationals? I am much looking forward to our encounter with the Indians as I think they have the finest batting line up in the world, and can only hope that with the return of Hoggard and Harmison we'll still be in with a chance. By the way, at the weekend I ran 3 miles in 29 mins 41 seconds (pathetic).

Seascapes and landscapes

Attended a Friends' night at the Royal Academy to see their new exhibition, Impressionists by the Sea. It's well worth a visit, and although it is limited in its subject, it doesn't stop there being some quite remarkable examples of the Impressionsts at their best. Boudin dominates the exhibition - although I'm aware that like so many artists in this particular exhibition, he is pre-Impressionist - and I was very taken with Eugene Isabey who I've never heard of before - all you experts out there will no doubt be saying that I should have spotted him years ago. By the way, if you go on a Friends' night it's far less crowded than any other occasion, so perhaps if you're a lover of art, you should consider becoming a friend.

Talking politics

Yesterday evening was spent with a group of ambitious young would-be politicians called the First Wednesday Discussion Group. A very attractive young lady (age 24) told me she was going to be Prime Minister and offered me a place in her first cabinet. I pointed out to her that I would be around 90 by the time she entered Number 10, but perhaps well qualified to be Minister For The Very Old - who no doubt by then will be the largest group of voters in the country. The most impressive young man I met (age 23) is firmly commited to the Labour party and already working to help his local party hold on to a marginal seat. I left with a feeling that at least there are still some young people who want to give public service, although the chairman of the group who fought the 1997 election for the Referendum Party and got 667 votes, told me: never again, I'm sticking to the day job.

Wednesday's PMQs and Polls

Like all political anoraks I was glued to the TV at noon for Prime Minister's Questions. Cameron was certainly faster on his feet and more assured than Brown, but I wonder if the present PM gives a damn. Hague was always considered to be in a class of his own at the dispatch box, but we still lost the next election by 170 seats. I think if Brown held an election today, he'd probably win by 50 or 60 seats, and he must be wondering whether to hold a snap election in October or wait until the October 2008 opinion polls, because if Labour remains 3 or 4 points in the lead he would be remarkably foolish not to go to the country. Despite this, the serious money is still on him going right to the very end and calling an election in May 2010, for two reasons - 1) it's the nature of the beast to complete the full course, and 2) he would be fearful of being remembered as having been Prime Minister for only a few months. If I was in his shoes I would wait and see what the polls are saying in 2008 before I made a decision. Harold Wilson's maxim, a week is a long time in politics, has become a cliche, but that doesn't stop it being just as relevant today as when he first delivered the words over 30 years ago.

Talking cricket with a great all-rounder

Like a schoolboy, cap in hand, head bowed, I arrived at Scott's for lunch with Sir Garfield Sobers, who was not only named by Wisden in the greatest six cricketers of all times but nominated as the finest all-rounder ever to grace the game.

Of course I couldn't resist questionning him about why the current West Indian team is no longer the powerful force we feared 20 years ago, and why Brian Lara was not in the squad, as so many Englishmen wanted to see him complete his Test career on English grounds. To the former he made the suggestion that some of the West Indian team (he mentioned no names) were more interested in negotiating contracts and making money than they were in representing their national side. He reminded me that he had never received a cheque as a cricketer for more than a £1,000 pounds, and the one word that he considered described the team he captained in 1966 was pride. Until you have that, he said, you don't beat opposition teams.

Gary runs his own tournament in Barbados for the under 18s, and is rightly proud of the fact that every current member of the national squad has been through the 'Sobers academy'. He also told me that an entrepreneur has agreed that to invest £50m into West Indian cricket - a sort of West Indian Kerry Packer - if he's allowed to get a grip of proceedings. Gary feels this is the West Indies' big chance to get back on the top rung. His most touching comment came when, despite Gary's magnificent innings of 254 in Melbourne - described by Sir Donald Bradman as arguably the greatest innings in history - he says that Ted Dexter's 75 at Lord's against Griffiths, Hall and Sobers, was unquestionably the finest innings he's ever seen. The great man also added that the fish and chips suplied by Scott's was almost as good as at his favourite cafe in Barbados.

The 39 Steps

Maria Aitken- who I was up at Oxford with - attended a party at the Old Vicarage a couple of weeks ago for women who live in the Cambridge area and went to St Anne's College Oxford. This year it was Mary's turn to host the occasion. I discovered (and in fact should have known before) that Maria is directing The 39 Steps, currently playing at the Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly. I promised I would see it, and popped along last night thinking it would be half full - Monday is not a great night for the theatre world. To my surprise, the theatre was packed, and once the play had started I could see why. It was a fun evening which is clearly packing them in on word of mouth. The play is a spoof on John Buchan's ripping yarn, and Alfred Hitchcock's brilliant film, and if you know the story, you'll get a double kick out of the evening. I thoughly recommend it for all age groups.

I left the theatre and strolled past the Tiger Tiger club in Haymarket to rejoin my mini before going off to dinner. The West End was packed with locals and holiday-makers. I can only admire the British public and the security services for the way they've handled the terrorist alerts. Certainly last night there was no proof that we'd had such a major near disaster only a few days before. It's sad to read in this morning's papers that most of the suspects are doctors. One usually thinks of people who wish to kill, maim and terrorise as not only evil, but more than likely lacking in education or upbringing. The security services will have to radically reconsider the profiles of such people in the future, while the British remain in the John Buchan mould.

Summer garden party

We held our summar garden party at the Old Vicarage on Sunday, and did we get lucky; occasional cloud, but the sun shone regularly from 12noon until late evening. This, despite the fact that the Met Office had warned that it would rain most of the day Sunday and Monday, and on Monday they turned out to be right.

Mary and I were joined by 280 guests for our 41st wedding anniversary, which was meant to end around 3.30, but the last guest didn't leave until 4.45pm, so we only had an hour's break before opening our garden and the marquee again for a charity event for the Lewin Stroke Centre at Addenbrooke's Hospital. Another 300 people attended this and it raised a considerable sum for the hospital. When the last guest left at 8.00pm, we were all exhausted, and I didn't even get the chance to see England beat the West Indies at what on paper looked like a very boring game. Chanderpaul once again left the field with another 50 not out, and Nasser Hussain suggested he should go higher up the order to number 3 so he could start scoring centuries - he should go in the night before in front of the openers, because we just don't seem to know how to get him out.

Before climbing into bed, I looked down at the lawn to see that 600 people had left their mark; Mary assured me that with this weather, sun and showers, it will be back to normal fairly quickly.