EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: Lady Starmer might learn a lesson from Labour’s last first lady Sarah Brown about clothing

As Lady Starmer rethinks how she pays for her frocks, she might learn a lesson from Labour’s last first lady Sarah Brown. 

Eyebrows were raised when the then PM’s wife wore a collection of expensive frocks at a G2 summit. 

No one was funding her fashion habit. She had rented the outfits at a fraction of the cost of buying, from her preferred designers including Amanda Wakeley. 

A spokesman at the time, confirming the arrangement, said, ‘She has no income of her own, having given up all paid work when her husband was chancellor to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest. 

She is not allowed to receive gifts, nor to borrow clothing.’ How times change.

Victoria Starmer, wife of Keir Starmer, arrives at Edeline Lee at Millbank Tower during London Fashion Week

Eyebrows were raised when the then PM’s wife wore a collection of expensive frocks at a G2 summit. (Pictured, Sarah Brown, wife of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown)

How did Dame Mary Archer upset the PM?

Blackballed as new chairman of the Royal Parks, what has Dame Mary Archer done to upset Sir Keir Starmer? 

She has also been stood down from leading a much-needed review of the Arts Council. 

Widely regarded as dysfunctional and responsible for catastrophic funding cuts to both English and Welsh National Operas, there were high hopes the fragrant Mary would sort it out. 

The whole review has been shelved indefinitely. Dame Mary will be hoping that Starmer hasn’t noticed that earlier this year she was appointed non-executive director in Ed Miliband’s Energy Security and Net Zero department.

What has blackballed Dame Mary Archer (pictured) done to upset Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer ?

Home Secretary scuppered husband’s Strictly plans

Yvette Cooper scuppered Strictly contestant husband Ed’s plan to portray Jerry Lee Lewis perfoming Great Balls of Fire with a flaming piano. 

Ed tells podcast Walking The Dog that Yvette rang him at 2am after rehearsals. ‘She says, ‘You know this movie where you’re going to assume the lead character… you do realise that in the biopic it’s based on he’s in an affair with his 12-year-old cousin? I think it’s a bad idea!’ 

Panicked Ed hastily changed plans, instead performing as Jim Carrey in The Mask.

Withnail And I star braces for university students

Withnail And I star Paul McGann braces himself for the stampede of new university students keen to discuss the movie. 

‘It’s about now they’ll be going to their freshers dos where they screen the film,’ he says. But Withnail is only a small respite from intrusion by Doctor Who fans. ‘The Who world is another life entirely,’ he adds. ‘It ain’t like any other job.’

Tom Parker Bowles chides father for not purchasing painting

Tom Parker Bowles (pictured) gently chides his father Andrew for not purchasing Lucian Freud’s 2004 painting

Tom Parker Bowles gently chides his father Andrew for not purchasing Lucian Freud’s 2004 painting of him entitled The Brigadier, telling the Rosebud podcast that his dad turned down Lucian’s offer of the canvas for £2million because he would have had to mortgage his home. 

Tom adds: ‘He’s not a huge risk-taker, my father. The last valuation was £55million. So my sister Laura and I are asking, ‘Why didn’t you buy it?’

Does Peter Morgan have any fantasies? 

With Gillian Anderson revealing her sexual fantasy in a new collection of erotic dreams, has screenwriter boyfriend Peter Morgan any fantasies he’d like to share? Some members of the Royal Family might describe The Crown, while hardly X-rated, as Morgan’s six-season fantasy.