Ephraim Hardcastle
PHOTOGRAPHED cosying up to Jeremy Clarkson, 56, on New Year’s Eve, heiress Jemima Khan and the presenter were the subject of a scandalous rumour in 2011. Ms Goldsmith announced at the time: ‘OMG – rumour that I have a super injunction preventing publication of “intimate photos of me and Jeremy Clarkson”. Not true!’ As it happens, in 1995, clandestine photographs emerged of her enjoying an al fresco canoodle with twice-herage Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan, whom she married aged 21. Clarkson has separated from his second wife, Frances Cain, as has Jemima from her latest escort, PR fixer Matthew Freud. A ‘Jezza- Jemima’ romantic alliance would mark an uplifting start to 2017, for paparazzi certainly.
TWO of Theresa May’s ministers say (anonymously) that the House of Lords, with its majority of Remainers, will be abolished if it votes to block Brexit. A source on royal matters counsels that this might have unforeseen consequences: ‘Abolishing one of the three parts of Parliament, the Lords, makes the abolition of another part, the monarchy, more of a possibility, certainly after this reign.’
PALACE officials declare themselves ‘comfortable’ about the correspondence between Princess Margaret and Mrs Thatcher released by the National Archives. I am told they’d be less comfortable if Margaret’s epistles to the archbishops of Canterbury and York – allegedly expressing her opinions on the moral turpitude of others – were released early.
DONALD Trump, pictured, faces a fresh row after a New Year’s Eve party at his Palm Beach resort Mar-a-Lago, which reportedly made a £340,000 profit after guests paid up to £470 a time to attend the event and meet the President-elect. Small wonder America’s dramatically coiffed new commander-inchief says he ‘doesn’t need’ his £325,000 presidential salary.
DISC jockey Tony Blackburn, 73, returned to the Radio 2 airwaves on New Year’s Eve, ten months after he was axed by the BBC for supposedly failing to co-operate with its Jimmy Savile inquiry. Although he was never accused of any wrongdoing, Blackburn said he was being made a ‘scapegoat’ at the time. Perhaps he’ll now resist replying ‘not arrested yet’ when colleagues ask how he’s doing.
WHILE Lord Prescott is pleased that his native Hull has become UK City of Culture, he was not impressed that his Labour colleague Lord Mandelson was appointed High Steward of Kingston upon Hull, an historic 16th-century role lobbying for local interests. After expressing ‘surprise’ at Mandelson’s appointment – they are far from being friends – former Cunard employee Prescott remarked: ‘I have no interest in being a steward again – I did that job on the liners for ten years.’