Sir Gavin Williamson, the most ironic Education Secretary Britain has ever had, has spent the evening in his garden feeding a huge bonfire with photos and videos.
Neighbours reported an acrid smell beginning in the early evening and looked over to see what appeared to be a very happy Sir Gavin next to a large fire.
“It was really ugly black smoke,” explained Simon Williams, who lives next door.
“I asked him how long it was going to go on for and he just gestured to this huge pile of photos and videos. It was massive, hundreds, perhaps even thousands of photos and goodness knows how many videotapes. He said that he had to burn all of it. He had to keep a bargain or something. I didn’t understand.”
Mr Williams also explained that it wasn’t just photos and videos.
“At around 8pm, the smoke got incredibly thick and chemically. I had to close all the windows. I looked over the fence and it looked like he was burning some sort of costume. The costume must have been made of rubber or something like that. I couldn’t make out exactly what it was, but I could just see a shiny black-headed mask with no eye-holes and a zip for a mouth.
“I asked what it was and he just sort of shuddered, stared straight ahead and said that sometimes it’s worth it. Not sure what that was supposed to mean.”
Sir Gavin’s knighthood was confirmed yesterday afternoon, just before he started his bonfire.