Keir Starmer's chipmunk incident
A chipmunk came close to menacing Sir Keir Starmer's leg just as Robert Peston, ITV's political editor, was grilling the Prime Minister in an outdoors interview in the shadow of Canada's Rocky Mountains at the G7 on Tuesday. 'Can't you do something about this?', whispered an adviser to a security guard. Before any drastic action could be taken, the chipmunk sloped away. Peston insists his questioning had nothing to do with it.
Angie's near-miss
Angela Rayner was so excited to be chairing this week's Cabinet in Sir Keir Starmer's absence that she nearly ran over Larry, left, No 10's resident cat when her Government car driver had to brake sharply. Rayner then texted her boss. 'All good while you were away,' she told Starmer, alongside an emoji. Is 17-year-old Larry running out of lives?
Vine's lamps
Journalist Sarah Vine spoke to me on Chopper's Political Podcast this week about the 'unpleasant' experience of being involved in the 2009 MPs' expenses scandal. I was The Daily Telegraph journalist who had contacted her then MP husband Michael Gove over his claims for £134 elephant lamps, a £493 Manchu cabinet and a £331 Chinon armchair from Oka, David Cameron's mother-in-law's shop.
Vine, whose memoir How Not To Be A Politician's Wife was launched on Thursday, said the experience was 'very, very unpleasant'.
She added: 'I've got the lamps. I might auction them one day for charity. What do you think?' Great idea.
Macca's pants
Writer and broadcaster Stuart Maconie visited the home of Beatles' friend and biographer Hunter Davies for his new book, With A Little Help From Their Friends. Davies gave Maconie a tour of his Beatles books and other Fab Four memorabilia. 'At one point he took a Ziploc bag from a filing cabinet with what appeared to be a pair of Y-fronts in it: 'Would you like to see Paul McCartney's underpants? He left them behind in the villa when he and Linda stayed with us in Portugal'.'
Boris's birthday boat
Happy birthday to former Daily Telegraph columnist Boris Johnson who turned 61 on Thursday. The former prime minister is marking his big day today with a trip down the River Thames, three men in a boat-style. All the Johnsons have been invited, including his sister Rachel who will meet Boris's month-old daughter Poppy for the first time. Baby on board!
Brandreth's other job
Cuddly jumper wearing polymath Gyles Brandreth, 77, has barely any downtime. 'There's not a week, no exaggeration, when I'm not asked to be the voiceover on one of these funeral plan ads', he says: 'This is partly because I host on an annual basis the British Funeral Directors' Awards – the big prize at the end of the night is the lifetime achievement award for 'thinking outside the box'.'
Trump's golf challenge
Former PMs David Cameron and Theresa May, UK ambassador Peter Mandelson and US ambassador Warren Stephens helped Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy mark the restoration of George Washington's statue, in London's Trafalgar Square this week. 'We are delighted to be able to welcome the President on his historic second state visit to the United Kingdom,' she said. 'Although we are all having to brush up on our golf skills'. Trump is due here in September and has a handicap of 2.8. Better get practising Lisa.
O'Flynn's legacy
Mourners gathered at Mortlake Crematorium, south London on Monday for the funeral of the journalist and ex-Ukip MEP Patrick O'Flynn who has died aged 59. Peter Hill, O'Flynn's former editor at the Daily Express, revealed how O'Flynn persuaded him to launch an unlikely campaign for Britain to leave the EU in 2011. 'It was the perfect newspaper campaign,' Hill recalled. 'It wouldn't cost any money, and it stood no chance of success, which meant we could return to it at any time on slow news days.' How did it go?
Illicit Nigel
Nigel Farage is puzzled that he was voted sexiest MP by a dating site for married people looking for extramarital affairs. 'I find this completely and utterly and totally extraordinary,' he told GB News' viewers. 'Could it be that people [on that site] want naughty people, or could it be the clip of me when I was in the jungle on I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Here?''
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