Monday, April 01, 2019

Richard Drax, James Bond and Moonraker

Embed from Getty Images

This afternoon's Commons debate on possible ways out of the Brexit impasse began in a strange way.

Richard Drax, the Conservative MP for South Dorset, made a personal statement to say he would not be voting for Theresa May's deal this time and to apologise for having done so last week.

Whether it was part of the Leavers' attempt to waste time, or whether he genuinely thought it was worth the House's time, the statement does not say much for his judgement.

But while we are considering Mr Drax, there are a couple of things worth recording.

First, his real name.

He may trade as Richard Drax, but he is actually Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax.

I suppose it would be hard to get it all on a poster.

And if "Drax" rings a bell, it may be because his grandfather Admiral Sir Reginald Aylmer Ranfurly Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax knew Ian Fleming.

And Fleming borrowed one of his surnames for Hugo Drax, the villain in his James Bond book Moonraker.

Hugo Drax, you may recall, planned to blow up London and to play the stock market the day before to make a huge profit from the disaster.

Any parallels with Richard Drax's reborn enthusiasm for a no-deal Brexit are, of course, purely coincidental.

No comments: