Ephraim Hardcastle
WHAT’S behind the announcement that Prince Philip will attend a Captain General’s Parade of the Royal Marines next Wednesday at Buckingham Palace – supposedly his final royal engagement? The parade wouldn’t normally be held there. Nor would Philip usually attend it. Is this high-profile Royal Marines function to prepare the way for a statement handing the post of Captain General from Philip to Harry, as we suggested on May 16? REPUBLICAN presidential candidate (2008) Senator John McCain, 80, returns to frontline politics after a cancer diagnosis, prompting President Donald Trump to Tweet: ‘So great that John McCain is coming back to vote. Brave – American hero! Thank you John.’ What a creep. Previously he highlighted the fact that McCain was a prisoner of war in Vietnam for more than five years, declaring: ‘He’s not a war hero. I like people who weren’t captured.’ LABOUR’s former deputy PM, Lord Prescott, 79, confides to Saga magazine: ‘I no longer want to have sex 20 times a day... who has the energy?’ He adds: ‘And I would say I am ever a bit wiser. I’ve now learned that if a young woman is smiling at me it’s because she recognises me off the telly and it’s not an invitation for something else.’ The old rascal has never fully lived down his extra-marital romps (2002 to 2004) with his frisky former secretary Tracey Temple, 53, pictured, who claimed they canoodled under a portrait of Oliver Cromwell. SMIRKING former international development secretary Andrew Mitchell boasts on TV that Britain ‘is lauded all over the world’ for giving away 0.7pc of our gross national income (£13.3billion last year) – sometimes to questionable beneficiaries. Tories say such public handouts ‘help detoxify our brand’. Shouldn’t they pay for their own detoxification? MIGHT William and Harry now emulate their late mother and dedicate their royal lives to good works? Diana, who died aged 36 – only a year older than William now – succoured cancer victims, lepers, AIDS sufferers and the homeless. She campaigned against landmines and was at home equally in hospitals, with the destitute at Centrepoint or holding hands with patients in Broadmoor and Rampton. Throughout all of this she managed to pick her way through a royal divorce, battle illnesses and maintain a lively private life. ‘It’s to be hoped that their ITV exposure was a one-off and they’ll now step out from her shadow and shake-off the idea that they enjoy moaning about their lives,’ comments a royal source. LABOUR’S ambitious Brexit spokesman, Sir Keir Starmer, who’d like to become party leader, might not have helped his case with some comrades by reportedly considering becoming an adviser to the big legal firm Mishcon de Reya – a move he has since turned down. Neither might his knighthood be much of an advantage. The last occupant of No 10 with a K was Tory premier Sir Alec Douglas-Home, who lasted less than a year (from October 19, 1963 to October 16, 1964) after renouncing his earldom but retaining his knighthood.