Ephraim Hardcastle
WHATEVER else might be said of Tory Mp (and former party chairman) Grant Shapps, 49, who plotted to remove Theresa May, he doesn’t lack chutzpah. I hear he has sent a bottle of whisky to No 10 in the hope that Mrs May will sign it so he can garner the credit of producing it for a fundraising auction. ‘perhaps Theresa will send it back with a revolver, suggesting he locks himself away with them in an empty room to brood about his duplicity,’ says my source.
HILLARY Clinton’s claim to be ‘shocked and appalled’ by Harvey Weinstein’s alleged behaviour is mocked by Juanita Broaddrick, 74, who accused President Bill Clinton of raping her in a hotel room in 1978. ‘You lived with that behaviour from your husband for decades,’ she points out. Horny Harvey’s exposure has set off a tsumani of allegations of hypocrisy among his political and showbiz ex-cronies.
THE Scotnats seek the repeal of the Sovereign Grant Act 2011, covering the annual amount received by the monarch, which has risen to £76.1million for 201718. Keeper of the privy purse Sir Alan Reid was rebuked by the SNP in 2015 for suggesting that an independent Scotland wouldn’t help fund the monarchy. When SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon denied it, Sir Alan was forced to retract his remarks. Might he have been right after all?
ITV’s new rival to BBC2’s Newsnight, After the News, is produced by Rachel Kinnock, 45, pictured, daughter of former Labour leader Lord Kinnock, a life peer since 2005 despite previously seeking the abolition of the Lords (his wife, Glenys, became a life peeress in 2009). Rachel worked for the EU in Brussels while her father was a commissioner and her mother an MEP. Afterwards, she worked for PM Gordon Brown and then for his successor, Ed Miliband. Small world!
SIXTIES heart-throb Jess Conrad, 81, says his las Vegas debut was marred by gunman Stephen paddock murdering 58 people while he prepared to croon on the Strip. This was for an ITV reality show in which ‘showbiz legends’ including Anita Harris, Kenny lynch and Su pollard made their debut in las Vegas. Jess tells me: ‘It was touch and go whether we would continue.’ Isn’t the self-absorption of showbiz folk extraordinary?
THEATREGOERS attending the opening of Doctor Foster creator Mike Bartlett’s new play Albion at the Almeida were told: ‘Please note this production features the smoking of real cigarettes.’
HIGHLIGHTING showbiz pal Nicholas parsons’s 94th birthday, fellow Just A Minute regular Gyles Brandreth, 69, reports: ‘Tried calling to say happy birthday. He was on the other line to his agent discussing next year’s theatre tour.’
THE House of European History in Brussels has an exhibition claiming Germany suffered most from the Second World War. Polish culture minister Piotr Glinski politely points out that this neglects Germany’s role ‘as aggressors and initiators of the Second World War and without counting the civilian victims of German warfare’.