Brexit: The wives’ tale
THE NEW YEAR failed to bring forth any resolutions from David Cameron about forgiving his enemies. He continues to rebuff conciliatory approaches from his former close friend Michael Gove, even though their wives have overcome their differences and are speaking again.
Nearly three years after he called the EU referendum, Cameron continues to be in no mood to forgive what he saw as Gove’s “two-faced treachery” over not supporting his Remain campaign. Gove’s wife, Sarah Vine, has said Cameron was “shocked and hurt” when her husband decided he would back Brexit.
Samantha Cameron supported her husband’s position and ignored entreaties from Sarah, to whom she had previously been close: the families had holidayed together and Sarah is godmother to the Camerons’ Now to the serious stuff: is there any truth in the rumour that certain royal staff refer to and as Monica and Chandler after two of the characters in the American sitcom Friends? In the series, control freak Monica is played by Courteney Cox and amiable but weak Chandler by Matthew
Perry (a typical Monica quote was: “Remember: if I am harsh with you, it’s only because you’re doing it wrong”).
So is that true? I ask a courtier at
Kensington
Palace.
“Yes,” he smiles. “Some of us can be very waspish.”
Meghan Harry
daughter Florence. Indeed Sam vowed never to speak to Sarah again, and the one time the two did meet, at the 50th celebrations of Tory fundraiser Lord Feldman, she was overheard swearing at Mrs
Maureen Lipman’s
Gove. Those close by described both women as “extremely upset”.
But the hiatus between the pair ended just before Christmas when they found themselves at a mutual friend’s drinks in South Kensington and they have since met for lunch. “We had not met since the referendum,” says Sarah. “It’s been lovely to see Sam; there’s no frostiness.”
Not so for Cameron, of whom a close friend tells me: “The frost has not thawed for David. He remains unimpressed by Gove’s ‘Brutus’ behaviour.”
Meanwhile, the former PM is far removed from Brexit squabbles. He has taken Sam and their three children to a remote resort in Costa Rica, where the family have been enjoying the surfers’ beach at Playa Hermosa. For anyone wanting to feel envious, the Camerons are staying in an £850-a-night villa. And the temperature is 33C.
radiant complexion is due to her beauty regime using sparkling water. “I shove my face in a bowl of Perrier,” the actress, 72, tells me. “It’s very good for the skin. And it also entertains my grandchildren.” Heartening to learn that is lapping up his new life on Nevis, the Caribbean island to which he decamped two months ago, having announced huffily that he had become “so disappointed” with the UK.
He cited a long list of gripes, including bankers, newspapers and the dearth of good comedy on TV (presumably not his dire Christmas offering, Hold The Sunset)?
So how is the old curmudgeon, 79, amusing himself in the sun?
He reports: “I’m using loo roll with a picture of an angry Donald Trump on every piece.”
The 11,000 residents of Nevis must count themselves blessed that such a wit has chosen to live among them.
Fay Ripley John Cleese
The Cold Feet actress – just back on our screens in a new series of the rebooted dramedy – seems a sunny sort of person. But her outlook wasn’t always so breezy. “I was at a really low point in my life in my 20s and early 30s,” admits the Wimbledon-born mother-of two, 52. “I spent most of that time crying about things like not having a boyfriend. I was miserable – just emotional and silly. And then I got it out of my system. And as you get older, your focus changes from, ‘I have to get into that pencil skirt’ to, ‘I just have to have a bath!’ – and all those things that were huge issues in your life seem to fall away.
“I still cry, just about different things. Since I’ve had children I only have to watch programmes about family reunions and I’m off weeping.” With this to be his last series as the sleuthing vicar in ITV’s Grantchester, Hollywood is, understandably, beckoning for
But the actor has no intention of leaving these shores, because he loves our damp climate.
“There have been a few meetings in America,” says the Ampleforth and Cambridge-educated James, 33. “There are great opportunities out there but there are wonderful jobs here too. And I miss the rain. The problem with LA is that when you read for a part you see them thinking, ‘So how much are you worth? How many Twitter followers do you have?’.”
Yorkshire-born James adds he would also miss Peckham in South London, where he has bought a house in which he likes to spend cosy evenings canoodling with girlfriend Imogen Poots, above.