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THE South West of England is set to be the stage for the titanic Brexit battle of the European Parliamentary elections as Andrew Adonis faces off against Annunziata Rees-Mogg.

The Londoner has learned that arguably the most remainy of centrist Remainers, Lord Adonis is standing for South West England and is second on the list to the sitting MEP Clare Moody.

A source close to Adonis said the former Transport Secretary “would relish a head-to-head debate” with Jacob Rees-Mogg’s sister, who was announced as the first candidate of Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party last week, and is thought to be contesting the same region.

But Adonis is not the only eye-catching Labour candidate for the European elections. For the europhile London area Labour has picked a prominent Corbynista, Laura Parker — who used to be one of the Labour leader’s most influential aides and is now the national co-ordinator for Momentum, the pro-Corbyn movement.

She is currently third on the London list, after the two sitting MEPs, so her election would require quite a swing to Labour. But apparently there is a behind-the-scenes “discussion” taking place, which could see her bumped up the list.

What is less known about Parker is that — like a majority of Momentum and Labour members — she is strongly in favour of a referendum. The point about both Parker and Adonis is that their loyalty to Labour — and even to Corbyn — is not in doubt, unlike those who run the People’s Vote campaign, many of whom are mistrusted by Labour left members as being too close to Tony Blair. Also prominent in the People’s Vote campaign are Alastair Campbell and Tom Baldwin.

Though a source said candidate selections have happened “in a great hurry in the past week”, their impact could change the course of Brexit.

Steep printing bill for our Parliament

THE green benches of the House of Commons are not so green after all. A freedom of information request by PoliticsHome has revealed that Westminster has spent a staggering £300,000 on printing in the past year, for documents that are available online and are regularly disposed of each day. Parliament insists that all this printing is “essential in enabling the House of Commons to function”, but environmental campaigners have condemned the throwaway culture, describing it as a “waste of materials, energy and cash”.

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Former Ukip leader Henry Bolton says he wants to merge his fledgling party Our Nation with Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party ahead of the European elections. Bolton tells The Londoner that Our Nation has “reached out.” Though the Brexit Party has yet to respond, he believes “this is not going to take a great deal of time".

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Flora Gill, daughter of Amber Rudd, admits “it can be hard to keep up with everything mum’s doing”. But, of a newspaper headline typo confusing the Work and Pensions Secretary with Hollywood actress Amber Heard, Gill deadpanned: “I can’t believe I missed the time she was married to Johnny Depp.”

Brits' emotional tribute to Notre-Dame

SHAKESPEARE and Company, the famous bookshop and literary salon on Paris’ Left Bank, held a packed reading in honour of Notre-Dame cathedral last night. Novelists Adam Biles and Damian Barr read Victor Hugo to the emotional assembled crowd.

“It was magic,” Barr told The Londoner. “Everyone was there to tell stories. It felt like being a part of the story of the city, and of history, at this fantastic shop which has seen so many stories.

“As I read, I watched the fire service remove a statue of a saint from the cathedral. So much survives, so much is lost.”

Boys channel Cary Grant while Clara encounters the hair to the throne

ONCE told by an interviewer, “everybody would like to be Cary Grant”, Grant is said to have replied: “So would I.” Now everyone can channel the Hollywood legend, as actors Malachi Kirby and Jeremy Irvine did last night, emulating Grant’s debonair flair as eyewear brand Oliver Peoples threw a party to launch a collaboration with the Cary Grant estate.

At the Wigmore in Marylebone, meanwhile, Jack Whitehall was at a boozy bash thrown by Grey Goose, where the comedian tried his hand at mixing cocktails with Clara Amfo. As a Radio 1 DJ, Amfo is well used to meeting high-profile figures, but said recently that meeting the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge last year was “extra special”.

“Kate had no qualms making fun of William’s hair situation,” she reveals. “And he took that.”

SW1A

NADINE Dorries is so enraged by Labour MP David Lammy comparing the ERG to Nazis that she has written to Parliament’s Standards Committee saying he has breached the code of conduct. “I don’t care how elected they were,” Lammy told Andrew Marr on Sunday, “so was the far-Right in Germany.” Dorries has asked the committee to “investigate this matter with some urgency... to ensure temperate, professional and responsible rhetoric is engaged in by all MPs”. She added that if there were MPs associating with “fascist sympathisers” it would not be inappropriate to highlight their behaviour.

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KEN Clarke says Westminster is better equipped for new MPs now than in 1970. “No one even contacted to tell me whether to come or not,” he tells James O’Brien’s podcast. When he and two colleagues, “rather nervously approached the building” they were “ticked off by the whips for being late".

Quote of the Day

‘Nuclear-powered scug weasel’

Tory MP Nicholas Soames attacks Labour’s Richard Burgon, who was filmed saying: “Zionism is the enemy of peace”