Ephraim Hardcastle
WITH no confirmation that Boris has knighted his dad, constitutional boffins wonder why he didn’t leave the task to Rishi Sunak. Previous PMs have left it to their successors to look after the family. Johnson arranged Philip May’s K. Denis Thatcher’s baronetcy was conferred by Margaret Thatcher’s successor John Major. norma Major’s damehood was arranged by Tony Blair, and Cherie Blair’s CBE was approved by David Cameron. If asked, might Rishi have declined to gong Stanley?
KING Charles inadvertently confuses the Household Cavalry on their daily march up and down the Mall. A solo trumpeter sounds a fanfare on sight of the Royal Standard atop Buckingham Palace confirming that the monarch is in residence. But the flag is also flying above his London home Clarence House, necessitating two fanfares. Has the King mastered the art of bilocation?
HAS Tony Blair reached out to harry hill? his rock opera on the Labour PM Tony! opens in the West end next month and he reveals: ‘I got a strange message from a third party saying, “Did I want to have a little chat?” But I thought, “no, I don’t really want to have a chat.” I’ve talked to a few people and I’m not sure he’s got a good sense of humour about some parts of his career.’ Was Tony keen to invoke the Fawlty Towers mantra: ‘Don’t mention the war’?
TAKING a swipe at her old employer the BBC after it emerged Gary Lineker’s political outburst requires a ‘frank conversation’, Emily Maitlis, pictured, snaps: ‘Curious that Gary was free to raise questions about
Qatar’s human rights record – with the blessing of the BBC – over the World Cup, but cannot raise questions of human rights in this country if it involves criticism of government policy.’ Emily, now highly paid at Global, doesn’t have to pretend to be impartial any more!
The handmaid’s Tale author Margaret Atwood concludes Prince harry is lucky to have been born a spare into a royal family devoid of real power. ‘otherwise,’ she muses, ‘he probably would have been murdered by somebody lower down the food chain to get him out of the way.’
DID BBC Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg join the stampede for Eurovision tickets yesterday? He has sheepishly admitted being able to play every Eurovision song winner on the piano. ‘I can’t play Mozart or Beethoven,’ he says. ‘But I can play Abba or Johnny Logan. Less a talent, perhaps, more a medical condition!’
DoG lover Dr Xavier Bray, director of the Wallace Collection, has lovingly compiled the forthcoming exhibition Portraits of Dogs: From Gainsborough to hockney. Will he be bringing his pugs Bluebell and Winston to the opening on March 29? Alas, dogs are banned.
CRICKET umpire Dickie Bird, who turns 90 next month, tells The Oldie about his curious encounter when swimming in Barbados near the Sandy Lane hotel. ‘I bumped into something. I thought it was a rock but it was Pavarotti.’