Ephraim Hardcastle
WHICH senior royal will help improve PM Theresa May’s relations with President Donald Trump? His now-bungled state visit and an off- colour remark he made about Diana – he said shortly after she died that he would have slept with the princess provided she had an HIV test – make any meeting problematical. But we do need good relations with the US. When the government decided to get on the right side of President Xi and couldn’t send Prince Charles, who had ‘issues’ with China, they dispatched Prince William. He smoothed the way for Xi’s successful, subsequent state visit. Would William, commendably firm about protecting his mother’s memory, agree to try the same with Trump? ESTHER McVey’s unexpected elevation to the cabinet prompts a source to send me a training video she made to promote her small businesses company. Ms McVey, 50, pictured, is seen reclining on a chaise longue stroking a cat. Short-skirted and high heeled, she confides: ‘Success isn’t about being lucky. It’s knowing what you want, taking the necessary action and believing you can achieve anything you can set your mind to.’ My source says: ‘Maybe Esther can be persuaded to drape herself over the cabinet table delivering a motivational pep-talk while stroking Larry the No 10 cat.’ EX-defence secretary Sir Michael Fallon, 65, will address the Institute Of Travel and Tourism’s annual shindig in Sicily in June. As will Labour MP Dawn Butler, 48. Will she have time to give Sir Michael, who resigned over inappropriate sexual behaviour, a few tips about what now constitutes acceptable male behaviour in the company of women? Steely Dawn is shadow minister for women and equality. HAVING failed for the second time to be elected on to Labour’s National Executive Committee, transvestite comedian and actor Eddie Izzard, 55, says pluckily: ‘I’ll continue to do all I can to campaign for an open and welcoming Labour Party.’ A supporter adds: ‘Eddie intends to stand again. He hasn’t given up hope, bless him, of becoming our first openlycross-dressing MP.’ SIMON Williams, 71, now entertaining us in the role of creepy property developer Justin Elliott in Radio 4’s The Archers, re-tells a saucy tale about Dame Joan Collins, 84. While filming one of her 1970s sex romps, she was taken ill, he alleges: ‘The studio doctor went to examine her and declared, “Don’t worry, Miss Collins, a couple of days on your feet and we’ll have you back in bed in no time.”’ BROADCASTER Libby Purves, 67, tells readers of the Radio Times: ‘The BBC’s current wounds, caused by prodigality and glaring inequalities, are pure self-harm.’ She knows what she’s talking about. Her Radio 4 show Midweek, axed after 35 years, without proper explanation, is replaced occasionally by broadcasts in which arts folk interview each other. An arts source tells me: ‘The two shows replacing Libby are under review after disappointing the management.’