PETERBOROUGH

Arise, Lord Johnson (Senior)

There is fevered speculation in Westminster about Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list. Two sources tell me the former prime minister is about to elevate his father Stanley, below, to the House of Lords. There could even be a lesser gong for his sister Rachel. Stanley – a former MEP who campaigned on green issues in Brussels – would join his son Jo, who was made Lord Johnson of Marylebone by Boris in July 2020.

I think Lord Johnson of Exmoor has a certain ring to it. Johnson’s team say the rumours are “wrong”, but won’t elaborate. Stanley tells me it is “extremely unlikely” he will be made a peer. “I have no knowledge of that at all. I am in the dark,” he says. Rachel told me to report that she “laughed helplessly” when I called to ask her. Not a no, then.

Paxman’s still grumpy

Former BBC Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman received an Outstanding Contribution Award at this week’s Royal Television Society awards in London’s Park Lane Hilton Hotel. Being a journalist is perfect for a “flibbertigibbet mind”, the veteran journalist told starry guests including GMB’S Susannah Reid and the BBC’S Clive Myrie. He continued: “I find lifetime awards are like the Freedom Pass on the Tube. They coincide with a desire not to go anywhere.”

Claudia’s music

Claudia Winkleman, right, host of the hit new Channel 4 talent show The Piano, says she has not been inspired to start tinkling the ivories. “No. I’m 51 and incapable of most things,” she says. “I did one trumpet lesson as a child and I couldn’t get a note out. I don’t have a musical bone in my body. I’m not even allowed to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to my own tortoise. He covers his ears and goes into his shell.”

I am 51, too, and I share Winkleman’s pain.

Why Rishi prefers flats

Business leaders were advised to “please wear flat shoes” when they met Rishi Sunak at a Coca-cola factory in Lisburn, Northern Ireland this week. It later became clear the request was due to health and safety issues on the factory floor, and not to avoid towering over the diminutive Prime Minister, who is 5ft 7in in his socks.

Des Lynam’s lost bet

Former BBC sports presenter Des Lynam gets in touch with more details of when he was mistaken for ITV’S Dickie Davies, who like him wore a bushy moustache.

Lynam had stopped to fill up his car while motoring through France when he saw a couple of lorry drivers staring at him. “You do the sport on telly on Saturdays, don’t you?” one said. Lynam says: “I admitted that I did – whereupon a bundle of cash was being passed over. ‘You won the bet then,’ I said. ‘All thanks to you, Dickie,’ he said.” Ouch.

Jenny’s weather report

Jenny Seagrove, above right, with her Shetland pony Mr Smith, has a way to avoid depression after poor notices. “I never read my reviews,” says the 65-year-old actress. “I used to when I was younger, but you only remember the bad ones,” says Seagrove, currently making a film called My Sister’s Bones.

“Thankfully I’ve only had one really bad one. When I was playing Jane Eyre, Sheridan Morley wrote ‘She has the emotional range of a BBC Radio 4 weather forecaster.’ That was not nice. I did raise it with him, but of course he couldn’t remember it. I adored Sheridan but he used to fall asleep in shows.”

Goldsmith is back

Lord Goldsmith, who hit the headlines as Tony Blair’s Attorney General ahead of the 2003 Iraq War, was seen taking the oath in the Lords on Wednesday.

Later he filed through the voting lobbies with Labour colleagues. He had not spoken or voted in the chamber since the summer of 2021 and was said to be otherwise engaged at US law firm Debevoise & Plimpton, where he is a partner. Taking the oath means that a peer can become fully involved in parliamentary affairs and can accept a ministerial job under Sir Keir Starmer. The new Labour band is slowly getting back together.

Rees-mogg’s Lenten tips

Jacob Rees-mogg has given up booze for Lent, he tells me over lunch at Boodles in Mayfair. I ask him how he manages to survive between now and Easter.

“I drink water at meals and coffee, mainly instant,” he replied, as I sipped a glass of the club’s champagne. Cheers!