Ephraim Hardcastle
WHY was Culture Secretary Maria Miller given a below-the-salt perch at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards lunch this week, to be broadcast on the satellite station tomorrow night? Arty types such as biographer Antonia Fraser, film director Ken Loach and actor Simon Russell Beale were on top tables. Ms Miller was on Table 12. My source says: ‘I suspect the organisers felt some of the Leftleaning luvvies wouldn’t appreciate being seated near her.’ THE latest Rolls-Royce, the Wraith, has found a new market in the US. ‘It’s no longer the Wall Street or real estate guys but the sickeningly clever and very wealthy, really cool, dotcom guys, blokes in their late 20s and early 30s,’ says a R-R executive. A New York motoring expert adds: ‘The Wraith is the automotive equivalent of molecular gastronomy, the cuisine that scientifically transforms familiar ingredients into otherworldly dishes... elite and outrageously delicious.’ You’d hope so for £235,000. PAUL McCartney, chose a track from his new album for a performance he and fellow ex-Beatle Ringo Starr, both pictured, gave at the Grammy Awards in LA to mark the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ US debut. Unhappy-looking drummer Starr had to accompany McCartney’s crooning of the unmemorable ditty, Queenie Eye. They were cheered on by McCartney’s third wife, Nancy Shevell – ‘looking like a play therapist in an old folks’ home,’ says an astringent source. LIB Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable’s grudging remarks about our economic recovery pleases Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, who says: ‘I think [Cable] is reflecting the same concerns that I’m reflecting... he’s a grown-up politician.’ Or a canny one. Cable might be dreaming of a postelection Lab-Lib coalition, with himself replacing Nick Clegg as deputy premier. APROPOS Mr Balls, Chancellor George Osborne observed during Treasury Questions: ‘What they need on the other side of the House is new crystal balls!’ The shadow chancellor didn’t take it at all well, replying peevishly: ‘Very good, Mr Chancellor. Jokes about my name being Balls. Fabulous.’ CAST as a British prime minister in the forthcoming series of hit TV thriller 24, Stephen Fry hopes to achieve acting fame in the US. Friends wonder if he is privately envious of former comedy partner Hugh Laurie’s massive commercial success in America in the series House. ‘Stephen loves Hugh and is very proud of him, but he’s also a competitive soul,’ says a Fry colleague. HAS the Public Accounts Committee, chaired by Margaret Hodge MP, come under the influence of anti-monarchy pressure group Republic? The committee’s recommendation that the Queen consider renting out Buckingham Palace for commercial events follows intensive lobbying by Republic members encouraged to ‘make sure the committee really holds the Palace to account’.