Scottish Daily Mail

Ephraim Hardcastle

- Email: peter.mckay@dailymail.co.uk

DUE to visit a pampering clinic in Marbella, TV presenter Anne Robinson, 73, had a telephone call saying her special suite there was no longer available. The rooms had been given to ‘a VIP’ and it was the clinic’s policy to accommodat­e such people. ‘Who exactly is this VIP?’ demanded Annie. ‘The English TV star’ Anne Diamond, 63, she was told. When Ms Robinson calmed down sufficient­ly, her mischievou­s daughter Emma, 46, admitted she’d made the hoax call.

TORY MP Sir Nicholas Soames, a grandson of Sir Winston Churchill, uses Twitter to advise the Prime Minister: ‘Here’s our theme for this week. Recover self-confidence, restore sense of direction…’ Another scenario is envisaged by Westminste­r gossips – that Soames gets a perch in the Lords in exchange for bequeathin­g his safe Sussex seat to popular Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson, a possible future No 10 candidate.

CHARLOTTE Rampling’s 2016 Oscar nomination for the film 45 Years, in which she is pictured, died when she suggested the event was ‘racist to whites’. Now, Miss Rampling, 71, reflects: ‘It was not a very sensible thing to say, but I was very tired. I got annoyed by [outspoken black director] Spike Lee, that’s all.’ Did it ruin her Academy Award chances? ‘Possibly (but) I don’t think I was going to get it anyway.’

THE BBC’s John Simpson, 73, advises Piers Morgan, 52, following the latter’s TV encounter with President Donald Trump: ‘The art of the political interview, Piers, is to push your interviewe­e hard – not let them spout self-evident tosh. That’s just showbiz.’ Morgan points out that the BBC led its News ‘all Friday morning’ with his interview. He adds: ‘So it would appear you’re the one spouting tosh, you pompous old prune.’

APROPOS Piers, he says of his scoop interview with Mr Trump: ‘See how a real Apprentice host became the world’s most powerful man while his UK counterpar­t (Alan Sugar) is reduced to flogging cakes on Twitter.’ A feud you never want to end.

SIR Ian McKellen, 78, reminds fans: ‘It’s the 30th anniversar­y of the BBC radio discussion when I publicly said I was gay. So I’m celebratin­g!’ He urges other conflicted stars to do likewise, adding: ‘Forget the career, dear. A closet’s a really nasty place to live, you know. It’s dirty, it’s dusty, it’s full of skeletons.’

LAST week Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, 66, refused to apologise on the Andrew Marr Show for repeating a vicious joke about Tory Cabinet minister Esther McVey, 50. He told Marr he preferred not to listen to a recording of himself in 2014 quoting activists who suggested that Miss McVey should be ‘lynched’. Surprising­ly, the BBC complied. Miss McVey’s office contacted Marr Show editor Rob Burley asking for the tape to be played on Sunday’s show so that viewers could hear what McDonnell said. Burley refused. Is the BBC frightened of bully boy McDonnell?

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