Ephraim Hardcastle

The lavish celebration at the Grosvenor house hotel in Park Lane to mark what would have been Nelson Mandela’s 100th birthday has been cancelled. hosted by Channel 4’s housetrained Leftie, Jon Snow, tonight’s event was to feature a charity auction of Mandela’s sketches and speeches from his daughter Maki, 64, as well as veteran South African golf star Gary Player, 82. ‘The cancellation is due to poor ticket sales – too many people are out of London,’ an organiser tells me. Maybe £500-a-head tickets were an issue, too. OLLY Robbins, head of Theresa May’s Brexit unit, is blamed but ‘John Manzoni’s more to blame for Remainer foot-dragging’, I’m told. Manzoni is chief executive (if you please) of the Civil Service. Previously, he was BP’s on-site refining boss when an explosion killed 15 people at its Texas City plant. After that, he was chief executive of Talisman Energy, which was later fined for health and safety violations. When he was interviewed for the top civil service job, a former BP colleague, its ex-chief executive John Browne, was on the appointment panel. Antonia romeo, 43, pictured, permanent secretary at the Department for International Trade, had senior colleagues attend a training course this week with their ‘allies’, the gay-rights lobby Stonewall. Shouldn’t they be concentrating on finding new, post-Brexit trade deals? BUCKINGHAM Palace’s pool party season for royal servants has begun. It starts after the Queen retires to her summer roost in Balmoral, but there’s a complication this year – Meghan, Princess Henry of Wales, is keen on swimming and is now in high-summer London more often than other royals. ‘Rushing out of the pool when the palace gateman phones through to say “Meghan’s on her way” will add to the excitement,’ I am advised. John Cleese, 78, announces: ‘What little respect I had left for the BBC disappeared after their decision to appeal the Cliff richard decision.’ The Corporation having confirmed that they’re making a second series of his comedy sitcom hold the Sunset, the irascible comic can’t be accused of toeing the company line. PREVIOUSLY a chef to the Queen and Princess Diana, Darren McGrady, 55, dislikes the food offered in first class by the publicly-owned London North Eastern Railway, tweeting: ‘The most appalling prawn sandwich ever. First class? Not even close. Three prawns, worst service ever.’ Is the fare more palatable on the royal train? Vanessa redgrave, 81, will receive a lifetime achievement award at the Venice Film Festival (August 29 to September 8) recognising her ‘sensitive, infinitely faceted performances’, says artistic director Alberto Barbera. Is it only showbiz folk who have the brass neck to accept lifetime achievement awards?