Ephraim Hardcastle
WAS David Cameron’s lobbying for failed finance firm Greensill Capital part of his hapless plan to emulate the post-political riches of former colleagues George Osborne and nick Clegg? Osborne has earned millions with up to nine directorships, including at exor, while Clegg has a £6million salary and benefits package as Facebook’s head of global affairs. Conversely, Cameron’s memoir For The record failed to match the sales of Tony Blair’s A Journey, achieving only an £800,000 advance compared with Blair’s £4.5million. Still, Dave, with three properties in notting Hill, Cornwall and the Cotswolds, as well as a £300,000 bequest from his late father Ian, remains comfortably above the breadline.
LINE Of Duty stalwarts Adrian Dunbar, Vicky McClure and Martin Compston live in fear of being killed off by creator Jed Mercurio despite five series and public acclaim. Warns Jed: ‘They know that if it was the right thing to do dramatically, we’d create a story line in which something untoward might befall one of them. Or two or three of them!’ How reassuring! eX-BBC radio 4 Today editor Sarah Sands selects her wardrobe for June’s final end of lockdown – or re-entry, as she puts it – pledging to jettison her hessian carrier bag. ‘I had forgotten that in the real world it is customary for women to carry handbags,’ she tells the Financial Times. ‘re-entry is going to mean a new bag, a coat rather than a padded jacket and, finally, although we may stagger about like newborn lambs, heels.’
FALLING on his face and breaking his nose, Jeremy Paxman, pictured, recalls a similar injury suffered by Winston Churchill when he was hit by a car on New York’s Fifth Avenue in 1931. Telling Saga readers Churchill negotiated a £2,500 fee from the Daily Mail for an account of his mishap, he asks: ‘Why did he imagine anyone was interested?’ Hardcastle offers £80 for a full account of the plight of Paxo’s proboscis, including photos. prOmOTInG his may royal Academy exhibition the Arrival of Spring, David Hockney muses that in the Bible every important place is a garden. ‘most people wouldn’t notice the Garden of eden if they were walking through it,’ he adds, glumly. ‘They’d spend their time scanning the ground to make sure they didn’t trip over tree roots.’
ASSESSING the latest French lockdown measures on Radio 4’s Today, BBC Paris correspondent Hugh Schofield, 59, remarks: ‘They’re trying to avoid the word lockdown… none the less, it’s a lockdown and we’re back to those bloody – sorry, excuse my English – bits of paper again that you have to show the police whenever you leave your home.’ Retorts Martha Kearney: ‘I’m sure we feel your frustration. I’m not sure what the French word would be?’ Sanglante, Martha? prInCe Harry lookalike Henry morley (£2,500 a pop) believes meghan’s new unpopularity has lost him jobs, telling ITV’s This morning: ‘It’s about advertising and they didn’t want to be associated with something if it’s bad press.’