Who is Philip?

Since the revelation that Dominic Cummings is actually an evil genius who hoodwinked us with his trip to Barnard Castle, I have been watching all announcements looking for a hidden meaning.

If you missed Have I Got News for You then you might not realise that a book called ‘Brewer’s Britain and Ireland’ (2005) the listing for Barnard Castle says this:

“Barnard Castle - A Durham dialect term for a coward that derives from the Northern rebellion by the Catholic Earls in 1569 when Sir George Bowes refused, despite many opportunities, to leave his fortified position in Barnard Castle to engage in battle. Hence the expression, Come, come, that’s Barney Castle, meaning ‘that’s a pathetic excuse’.

When I showed it to my daughter she said, “That’s amazing, could he have known or is it just one of those brilliant coincidences?”
I, as the faction writer, plumped for the idea that he had mapped the story out before he started because he was from the area and so developed a grudging respect for him as a Machiavellian genius.
She, as a writer welded to the truth who sleeps with a copy of McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists, was more inclined to believe that truth is stranger than fiction or that the universe is sending us a message that all of us, except the Prime Minister, could see.

The Scientists have been very interesting to watch, wildly sending semaphore and morse code messages with their eyes, on the suggestion of the Prime Minister. Blinks and twitches that convey a fear that it all might be a bit quick and over confident.

Professor Van Tam has become one of my favourites. He’s not afraid to tell it like it is.
“Yes, I’m happy to answer that. In my opinion, the rules were clear. In my opinion, the rules are for the benefit of all. In my opinion, the rules apply to all.”
He also uses headline grabbing phrases.
“Let’s be clear, we are in a very dangerous position. Let’s not go ripping the pants out of it.”
No writer could refuse a phrase like that.

Yesterday’s press conference was with Jonathan Van Tam and Oliver Dowden, the Sports and Culture minister, who looked like he’d forgotten he was ginger and had spent the day outside and was all about restarting professional sport. It’s perfectly understandable. An economy that is built on poor people gambling away their hard earned money in the hope they will get rich can’t survive unless we get back to watching 22 men in tight shorts race around after a ball. It’s not really something I’m interested in, so I can’t get quite as excited about it.

Professor Van Tam told us that he is a mad Bolton Wanderers fan. I wondered if that was a metaphor for something. Then he went onto say, “The return of professional sport is a nice Philip for all of us,”

What?

I replayed it several times. I asked my family to listen. Yes, he definitely said ‘nice Philip.’.
What’s a nice Philip? I only know one Philip and he is nice but he has nothing to do with professional sport. There has to be a hidden message in the phrase but I can’t work out what it is.