AIBU to be surprised...

[Justcallmebebes]

that Jonathan Aitken is Godfather to Diane Abbott's son? Who knew?

I don’t know who either of those people are so I’m not surprised

There are a lot of people in politics who are firm friends and/or relations despite an apparent ideological gulf between them. Presumably some politicians are just as capable as the rest of us of viewing people objectively aside from their personal politics. There are people I've met through work who are longstanding and valuable friends, even though we have fundamentally different personal political views. I should imagine politicians can be exactly the same.

They are on paper at least so fundementally different and certainly at opposite ends of the political spectrum. Perhaps they met at university? Nevertheless i think it's great they have such a personal bond

Well I never! How on earth did that come about???

Perhaps they met at university?

Who knows?. Abbott is a Cambridge grad, whereas Aitken went to Oxford and is a good bit older. They were 'paired' in the Commons for a while at one point.

AFAIK it's not unusual for older MP's to mentor newly elected MP's so they get to know the ropes at Westminster, Abbott also worked in the Home Office as a junior Civil Servant years before she popped up on Councils etc, so it's possible that as well as the voting pairing they may have a professional history that predates the Commons.

None of your business OP.

That's lovely! I wish it was more common nowadays to be closer to people with opposing views.

That's old news. I seem to remember they were 'paired' with each other for voting purposes:
'Pairing is an arrangement between two MPs of opposing parties to not vote in a particular division. This enables an MP to be absent without affecting the result of the vote as they effectively cancel each other out. Pairing is an informal arrangement which is not recognised by the House of Commons but must be registered with the Whips. Pairing is not allowed in divisions of great political importance'.

I thought they knew eachother from school and Clive Anderson and Michael Portillo. I could have made that up

Pairing doesn’t exist any more because the Tories broke the convention.