Tory leadership hopeful Jeremy Hunt has won some unlikely backing from one of the stars of Sex And The City.
Kim Cattrall, who played glamorous and sexually adventurous PR Samantha Jones in the TV show and films, said she likes Mr Hunt at a time when politicians “seem to rely on drama”.
The Liverpool-born actress was reluctant to choose either Mr Hunt or his rival Boris Johnson when asked who she thought would be a better prime minister for the arts in the UK, replying with a laugh: “Well they’re both Tories.”
Speaking to the Press Association, she continued: “I can’t say. I can’t speak of that. I don’t know enough to make an accurate choice.
“But I like Jeremy Hunt. He seems to consider what he does, and at a time when politicians seem to rely on drama and television ratings and hysterical balancing acts of how much they’re needed and wanted, I think that he listens and that is paramount in any politician.”
Cattrall, 62, said she was “not surprised” that the arts was not a major topic of discussion at the hustings event that Mr Johnson and Mr Hunt took part in on Saturday.
She said she would implore them to discuss the arts at future events, saying: “One of the biggest exports that we have is our writers, our directors, our producers, our set designers, our actors, our singers, our dancers, our choreographers, we represent the UK on the world stage.”
Cattrall was speaking ahead of The Old Vic’s annual fundraiser at The Brewery in east London on Sunday night.
Film score composer Hans Zimmer, who was also a guest at the event, said theatres like The Old Vic tell “the story of our lives”.
Zimmer said it was “an impossible question” when asked who out of Mr Hunt and Mr Johnson would be better for arts in the UK.
“I sort of have a feeling that neither of them realise that it’s the arts that are going to save us at the end of the day.
“I think at the end of the day it’s normal people who will have to fight for the arts,” he said.
Zimmer added: “I’m a foreigner who spends time in London. Brexit is not my idea. I’m probably going to get chucked out.”
Asked how he feels Brexit will affect him and his work, he said: “I think it will be a catastrophe for any musician, for all arts, because we need free borders.
“We are a collaborative bunch of people and we work with artists from all over the world and we want to have access and go in and out and tell our stories and have the stories told to us.”