Ephraim Hardcastle

TORY backbencher Sir Simon Burns, 64, has publicly described Speaker John Bercow, 54 – accurately some think – as ‘a stupid, sanctimonious dwarf’. Yet he supports Bercow’s opposition to President Donald Trump being invited to address Parliamentarians, saying the Speaker ‘was reflecting the view of a significant number of members of Parliament’. Explaining previous rows with Bercow, he explains: ‘They were clashes of personality.’ There’s another factor. Burns was a fervent supporter of Trump’s election rival, Hillary Clinton. ‘He even wears a watch with Hillary’s face on it,’ reports my source. How sad. PRINCE Albert of Monaco remarked in a New York interview about then presidential candidate Donald Trump: ‘It’s dangerous to have someone like this running for office, someone who can have people believing climate change is all a conspiracy.’ Albert, 58, has since sent a letter to President Trump congratulating him on his victory. STEPHEN Fry hosts the Baftas on Sunday, despite a row at last year’s ceremony when he ‘joked’ that award-winning costume designer Jenny Beavan looked like a ‘bag lady’. Stung by social media comments, Fry, 59, later insisted he was quitting Twitter. His toy boy husband, Elliott Spencer, 29, pictured with Fry, announced that they were leaving for a new life in America. Now Fry’s back in the UK, back on Twitter and back at the Baftas. Aren’t we fortunate? WHILE his rebellious MPs waited anxiously between votes on Tuesday night to see if their amendments had got through (they didn’t), Jeremy Corbyn enjoyed drinks with his older brother, weather forecaster Piers, 69 – who voted to leave the EU – and Brexit-supporting Labour MP Kate Hoey in Parliament’s Pugin Rooms. ‘It looked like a Leave supporters knees-up,’ says my source. Maybe it was. UNLIKE so many of her subjects, the Queen isn’t impressed by famous-for-being-famous types. ‘She doesn’t do celebrity,’ Prince William has observed. So she was unmoved by the reported flattery directed at her by David Beckham in his pursuit of a knighthood. Or the earlier sucking-up by creepy, royals-worshipping entertainer Sir Jimmy Savile. The latter did succeed with Margaret Thatcher, who nominated him for a knighthood despite advice from then cabinet secretary Sir Robin Butler that this ‘would not benefit the honours system in the eyes of the public’. On Savile’s 80th birthday Prince Charles sent him gifts and a note saying: ‘Nobody will ever know what you have done for this country, Jimmy. This is to go some way to thanking you for that.’ NICK Clegg’s pushy wife, Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, 48, the Spanish firecracker, responds indignantly to being called ‘Mrs Clegg’ in a letter from the organisers of International Women’s Day. As well she might! International lawyer Miriam’s annual salary of £500,000 is almost double that presently earned by the Lib Dems’ unsuccessful, 50-year-old former leader.