Ephraim Hardcastle

SHADOW Chancellor John McDonnell says: ‘If a minority government can’t obtain a majority in Parliament, usually it’s the duty of the monarch to offer to the Opposition the opportunity to form a government.’ No doubt the Queen would be happy to accommodate the neo-Marxist republican, but under the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act 2011, only MPs can force a change of government. LADY Gabriella Windsor’s marriage to Thomas Kingston in the spring will be a low-key affair in comparison with the recent nuptials of the Duke of York’s daughter, Princess Eugenie, which seemed to copy the bells and whistles of Prince Harry and Meghan’s wedding. Courtiers hope that a tasteful event by Gabriella, pictured, might persuade the Duke of York’s other daughter, Princess Beatrice, to tone down her own wedding when the time comes. APROPOS royal domestic matters, is its first ‘baby shower’ on the horizon? This American invention – featuring tea, cakes, finger-food and gifts in the weeks before the birth – has caught on here among the aspirational classes. As a Californian girl, the Duchess of Sussex is expected to hold one. With a ‘diverse’ guest list to discourage sneering mockery, perhaps. THE story that Labour PM Clement Attlee’s family looked after a child refugee who had fled the Nazis before the outbreak of the Second World War – without publicising their generosity – prompts the question: why didn’t his far-richer Tory contemporary, Winston Churchill, do likewise? The revelation makes Churchill’s famous quip – that Attlee was a modest man ‘with much to be modest about’ – seem mean-spirited. PICTURES of the Queen out and about in London this week on her 71st wedding anniversary without Prince Philip intrigue older royal supporters. Retired consort Philip, no longer a fixture at HM’s side, rarely comes into the capital. ‘He’s preparing the Queen for the time when she might have to reign without him at her side,’ suggests my source. NOTING mild-mannered Tory politician Andrew Jones’s appointment as rail minister, Speaker John Bercow observes: ‘The minister’s portfolio grows by the day. He previously served the nation with distinction as parliamentary under-secretary for buses. So from bus to rail really is an impressive CV, it has to be said.’ Cue laughter from Bercow’s easily amused fans in the chamber. But woe betide MPs who mock the Speaker there. THE sky could be falling in but Environment Secretary Michael Gove will always have a bon mot. Referring to the Scottish National Party’s shillyshallying over protecting our fishermen from EU predation, the son of an Aberdonian fishmonger said during a debate: ‘I’m tempted to say that the SNP wants to have its hake and eat it.’