Ephraim Hardcastle

JereMY Corbyn, making the right noises about tackling the Sexminster scandal, might raise more than a reproving eyebrow over his own behaviour towards former girlfriend Diane Abbott. According to his biographer, he invited five Labour colleagues back to his bedsit in 1979 to collect leaflets. recalls one: ‘There on the mattress on the floor in the one room is Diane with the duvet up to her neck, saying, “What the ****’s going on?”. Adds the source: ‘Jeremy was slightly showing off.’ BBC World At One presenter Martha Kearney’s swap with Today’s Sarah Montague, is being portrayed as a downward step for Montague, 51, and a promotion for Kearney, 60. It’s nothing of the sort. WATO is one of the more coveted shows on the airwaves, where a single presenter sets the agenda. It’s not for nothing that it’s often referred to as the Martha Kearney Show. Beekeeper Martha might get a buzz working alongside the strident voices of Humphrys, Webb, Robinson and Husain, but she’ll find it difficult to shine. Montague, who said when she joined Today, ‘I’m all mouth, I like feisty discussions,’ will be in her element. JUST weeks before House Of Cards star Kevin Spacey became embroiled in sexual assault scandals, Netflix circulated a memo to staff requiring them to take an online course on sexual harassment. ‘We feel it is important for everyone in the workplace to understand these principles,’ it said. Two weeks later the Spacey bombshell burst and House Of Cards was cancelled. The harassment course was called risky Business. And they say Americans don’t do irony. KATHARINE Ross, 77, Dustin Hoffman’s costar in The Graduate, pictured on set in 1967, didn’t wait 50 years to bleat about being groped by him. Recalls Dustin, 80, now engulfed in his own sex embarrassment: ‘At one point, I pinched – very gently – Katharine’s right buttock as a way to help loosen us up. I kind of patted her and gave her a little pinch and she turned on me... she just whirled on me and said, “Don’t you ever do that to me again!”.’ Hats off to Ms Ross! NO hashtag/me-too whingeing from the writer Bryony Gordon, rudely called a slut by Sir Michael Fallon. She’s made of sterner stuff. Interviewing the late Sir Denis Healey, 98, she asked if he expected to live to 100. He replied: ‘Oh, I should imagine so. Now take your knickers off.’ PIPSQUEAK Speaker John Bercow had better watch his Ps and Qs now Gavin Williamson has become Defence Secretary. In 2013, he told backbencher Williamson off for being noisy, saying his job was to ‘nod in the appropriate places and carry notes’. Williamson brings his pet tarantula, Cronus, into the Commons, which one wag calls ‘cruelty to tarantulas’.