Ephraim Hardcastle

VeTeRAN Labour MP Frank Field upsets comrades by taking a swipe at party colleague hilary Benn in the Commons, remarking: ‘I’ve always bought my houses, never inherited them.’ Field, 75, apologised – Benn, 63, says he bought his own house – but was the jibe far off the mark? hilary’s wealth notably increased courtesy of his Leftie father, Tony Benn. he died in 2014, leaving most of his £5million fortune to hilary and three other children. he also left an eight-bedroom ancestral home, Stansgate Abbey Farm in essex, in trust for his family. GEORGE Eaton of the New Statesman – supposedly a Tory enemy – tweets: ‘(Mrs) May in fighting form at PMQs but three big challenges ahead: Damian Green investigation, the Budget, EU council meeting.’ The PM’s chief of staff, Gavin Barwell, responds insouciantly: ‘Only Three?’ Good for Gavin. Don’t let the youknow-whos grind you down. MOANING comic John Cleese, 78, now attacks colleague Terry Gilliam, 76, accusing him of ruining their 1975 film Monty Python And The holy Grail with a confusing ending, saying: ‘I’ve re-edited the ending, and I show that to the audience – they think it’s better than the original ending.’ evidently Cleese is heeding poet Dylan Thomas’s advice to elderly artistes: ‘Do not go gentle into that good night.’ THE new International Development Secretary, foxy Penny Mordaunt, 44, pictured, can expect to be summoned to Clarence House to discuss green issues with the Prince of Wales. HRH was once a keen amateur magician, while Ms Mordaunt served as a glamorous assistant to magician Will Ayling. She’s also a keen painter, like the prince. And the first member of her family – like Charles – to go to university. Perhaps Camilla should sit in on their discussions. WhY no royal representative among the hundreds in St Paul’s Cathedral paying tribute to Michael Bond, creator of Paddington Bear? Bond died a year after fulfilling an important task for the Queen. When she surrounded herself with other 90-year-olds last year for her birthday thanksgiving in St Paul’s, it was he who wrote the reflection on the passing of the years read by Sir David Attenborough. HOW fortunate that Radio 4’s obliging inquisitor Nick Robinson was able to talk to Tory MP Sir Nicholas Soames on the day Zimbabwe’s tyrannical leader for 37 years, Robert Mugabe, 93, was deposed. Soames put the best possible gloss on why his diplomat father, Zimbabwe’s last governor, the late Lord (Christopher) Soames, backed sinister Mugabe, who bankrupted the formerly successful Rhodesia. Sir Nicholas says: ‘My father would be very, very sad indeed. It did start very well.’ Not the view of most Africa experts. ASKeD by a magazine about his last conversation with a well-known person, royal author Robert ‘Majesty’ Lacey, 73, replies: ‘I’ve had many conversations with the Queen. She has a great skill of making conversations both hugely interesting and wonderfully forgettable.’ Such a diplomat!