Just 12 audition for B'stard play

The 48-year-old actor held the auditions in character and said he was looking for ‘an utter, utter, utter arse’ to play the Prime Minister – and said he needed to fill the role quickly, before the real Blair loses his job

Hopeful PMs were asked to say: ‘The thing is, Alan, we have to protect my legacy and, in point of fact, ensure that I go down in history as the top Prime Minister of all time.’

While would-be Cheries had to read: ‘People think that I’m just a greedy, self-obsessed freeloader with a Scouse accent but that’s really unfair. I don’t have a Scouse accent.’

Among the actors and impressionists who turned up was Anthony Keetch who played Mr Blair in the Sky News reconstruction of the Hutton enquiry, and Caroline Bernstein, a professional Cherie lookalike.

Mayall said his character was ‘trying shag Cherie Blair basically’, adding: ‘I don’t want to give too much of the plot away but I do get to have sex with Condoleezza Rice.

‘I’ve been auditioning an awful lot of very good actresses and there’s a fantastically sexy actress called Alex Gunn who’s doing the job and doing it very well.’

When asked about the audition for that role, Mayall explained it was: ‘Get your kit off and get down to it! I am the Rik Mayall!’

The New Statesman: B'stard's Extremely Secret Weapon, the second in which the MP is a conniving New Labour politician, is due to start at the Trafalgar Studios, just a few hundred yards along Whitehall from Downing Street, on December 13. Click here for tickets.

Published: 27 Nov 2006