Pick of the week’s Gossip

Hell hath no fury like a disgruntled ex-employee, as David Davis is learning. The Brexit Secretary’s former chief of staff, James Chapman, announced last week that he wants to start a new political party dedicated to stopping Brexit. Chapman – whose CV also includes a stint as political editor of the Daily Mail – then launched a Twitter tirade against his former boss, claiming that “DD” had been “working a three-day week since day one”, never read the contents of his ministerial box, and “can’t even make plain ham sandwiches (no butter) – an unfortunate woman in his private office has to bring one to him every day”. Chapman also claimed to have been with Davis when he “leered” at Labour MP Diane Abbott, adding: “He was drunk, bullying and inappropriate.” The late John Gielgud was famously absent-minded. Christopher Reeve once recalled bumping into the Shakespearean actor at Pinewood Studios. “We had met at a social occasion; now I was dressed in full Superman regalia. As he shook my hand he said, ‘So delightful to see you. What are you doing now?’”

Alex Salmond has been accused of degrading political women in his Edinburgh Festival show. The former SNP leader’s comedy debut, Alex Salmond… Unleashed, contains the joke: “I promised you today we’d either have Theresa May or Nicola Sturgeon, or Ruth Davidson or Melania Trump, but I couldn’t make any of these wonderful women come… [ba-dum, goes the onstage drummer]… to the show!”