Mandrake

The diary columnist on vanquished Mail editor and his missing gong, Channel 4’s Brexit film The Uncivil War, and Kay Burley’s Christmas gift for foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt… Sky News presenter Kay Burley gave foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt a Christmas present. Photo: Getty – Credit: Getty Images Conspicuous by his absence in Theresa May’s so-called […]

George Osborne so busy with his nine jobs he neglects paperwork for Northern Powerhouse Partnership, Womad Festival under pressure over Jacob Rees-Mogg connection and the Telegraph hires from TaxPayers’ Alliance in this week’s MANDRAKE. When Joe Anderson, the mayor of Liverpool, quit the Northern Powerhouse Partnership earlier this month, George Osborne said it was vital […]

Music festival regulars not happy Brextemist is involved with venue, Sarah Vine’s four letter word speech at ousted Daily Mail chief’s party, and Samantha Cameron’s part in her husband’s downfall Mandrake trusts that the Earl of Suffolk will not come to regret giving the Brextremist Jacob Rees-Mogg a number of directorships associated with his family […]

PM flies out of Heathrow rather than Brize Norton to buy extra time to sell her deal, Liam Fox afraid to talk to Channel 4 News and Mandrake’s part in Sam Gymiah’s resignation. Theresa May loftily informed the Commons committee inquiring into the practicalities of Brexit last week that she ‘had a plane to catch’. […]

A senior BBC journalist talks of the crisis of confidence in the BBC’s newsrooms and the weakness of Lord Hall, Jacob Rees-Mogg teams up with the Earl of Suffolk, and Kwasi Kwarteng drowns his sorrows alone in Lily Allen’s club. Brexit has precipitated a crisis of confidence across the BBC’s newsrooms, one of its most […]

David Davis takes it upon himself to try to negotiate a free trade deal in US, Paul Dacre now wants a peerage for services to Brexit, and why Sky’s Sophy Ridge no longer sees Andrew Marr as serious competition. David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, caused some alarm when he imperiously announced that he had […]

David Cameron is said to be too frightened about provoking Brextremists to back a People’s Vote… and will there be a knighthood for ousted Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre in New Year’s Honours? In his quiet, but determined way, Sir John Major has been lobbying David Cameron to come out publicly for a People’s Vote, […]

Mandrake reveals when Kamal Ahmed said ‘all hail, Sir Philip Green,’ Liam Fox combines business with pleasure and Jane Fonda asks why Corbyn is not opposing Brexit. Few, if any, journalists know Sir Philip Green better than Kamal Ahmed, but the BBC’s economics editor has been curiously silent about the controversial tycoon who’s been so […]

Gina Miller laments that no one in government will debate Brexit with her, the maverick Telegraph star who wants an inquest into the ‘unholy mess’ of Brexit, and Boris Johnson’s £16,846 jolly to the States. Few, if any people, can grasp the detail of Brexit quite like Gina Miller – and that would appear to […]

The Today programme disinvites Patrick Kielty after his epic Twitter showdown with Boris Johnson, the tears of Steve Baker and Boris Johnson’s freebie tickets to get booed at The Oval The bookers on the ailing Today programme on Radio 4 felt they had pulled off quite a coup the other day by securing the popular […]

Although David Cameron now has a reputation for being cavalier about membership of even the most worthwhile institutions, he’s apparently missing White’s, the exclusive St James’s club that he quit in 2008 when he twigged it didn’t admit women. ‘I’ve been seeing quite a lot of him just lately as a guest, dining with a […]

Tory MP Nicky Morgan says Boris Johnson must decide if he’s politician or a hack, Sarah Vine is ‘unsackable,’ Liam Fox’s powder puff and Gina Miller’s mission to Ireland Businesswoman and Transparency Activist, Gina Miller, takes part in a panel discussion on ‘What Business should be doing about Brexit’ during Brexit minus 365 conference at […]

EXCLUSIVE: TIM WALKER on a bid to break the Westminster impasse and force a People’s Vote The Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable is challenging Nicola Sturgeon to join the fight in Parliament for a People’s Vote. ‘We need the SNP’s MPs to vote with us to secure this victory, as the Parliamentary arithmetic is […]

In the latest Mandrake, Tim Walker takes a look at the BBC’s Brexit Burnley, and a remarkable reverse ferret at the Daily Mail. In any ‘random’ BBC street interviews with members of the public about Brexit, it appears to be custom and practice to include at least a few folk saying, without any challenge or […]

Times up for Nigel Farage as he’s banned from his local boozer, while the Brextremists fail to come up with a credible plan, and Gina Miller pursues Jacob Rees-Mogg. Last orders for Farage and friends The time is up for Nigel Farage and his carefully-cultivated image as the bloke in a pub who can’t help […]

Gina Miller re-enters the fray on Brexit with a bold new initiative, the Russian link to the new woman in Boris Johnson’s life and how Andrew Marr silences his critics. Gina to make some waves in Dover If ever a town needed to be cheered up, it’s Dover. It voted Leave by a margin of […]

Paul Dacre’s Canaird River Company – backed by EU subsidies – reports record profits, Boris Johnson still refuses to acknowledge his Telegraph salary… and how Andrew Marr could raise his game if he only listened to his wife on Brexit. If Evgeny Lebedev and Sultan Muhammad Abuljadayel fail in their attempt to acquire the Daily […]

Our diary reveals how the BBC had second thoughts about Gina Miller, the three top Labour people blocking any change of policy on Brexit and why has Boris Johnson still not declared his Telegraph salary? BBC has second thoughts on Gina If there was one individual who could have dissected the ‘no deal’ Brexit papers […]

Tim Walker’s diary reveals Paul Dacre may soon be heading up a Saudi-backed Telegraph, Damian Green’s nice little earner and how fellow actors rallied round Sir Patrick Stewart in his hour of need Frances Barber attending the premiere of Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool as part of the BFI London Film Festival, at the […]

Tim Walker’s diary also focuses on why Sarah Sands won’t be sacked as editor of the Today show and a former colleague recalls Daniel Hannan’s difficulties mastering facts. Sarah Sands remains “stubbornly in place” as editor of the Today programme on Radio 4. Picture: PA – Credit: PA Archive/PA Images Mr Bean shuts down the […]

Tim Walker exclusively reveals that Danny Boyle is to direct James Graham’s controversial Brexit drama… and asks is the Daily Mail’s Paul Dacre about to take charge of the Telegraph? Boyle set to direct Brexit The Movie Confounding the doubters, Danny Boyle made the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Summer Olympics a national and […]

Tim Walker’s diary focuses on the secretive Border Planning Group, our new trade envoy to Libya and what Donald Trump has been telling Nigel Farage. PM’s top secret Brexit department After being on the brink of resignation for so long now, David Davis’s departure as Brexit Secretary was even more of an anti-climax than many […]

The diary also focuses on open secrets in David Davis’s Brexit dept, David Cameron’s refusal to be provoked by Danny Dyer and the Goves’ love of lucre writes TIM WALKER It’s a measure of the McCarthyite times in which we live that Sir David Attenborough – without question the nation’s most revered broadcaster – has […]

TIM WALKER on how Boris Becker wants justice for Gottfried von Cramm, Katya Banks’ property empire, an awkward encounter with Daniel Hannan and Jeremy Corbyn’s horror of the EU flag. Protesters demand action on Brexit from Jeremy Corbyn – Credit: Archant Boris Becker – the German former world No 1 professional tennis player – has […]

Tim Walker’s diary focuses on the astonishing 168 films Boris Johnson has commissioned – starring himself, naturally – and asks if Bernard Jenkin will turn up fully clothed at Buckingham Palace for his investiture. Home Secretary Amber Rudd Photo: REUTERS/Neil Hall – Credit: Press Association Images Johnson’s film factory exposed After some goading from Mandrake, […]

Tim Walker tells all about Daniel Hannan’s Twitter block, Boris Johnson’s latest vanity project and Sir Vince Cable’s hopes for Seabiscuit in by-election It says a lot about the Brextremists that few, if any, of the people who’ve worked with them recall the experience fondly. The researcher Dr Richard North, who laboured alongside the MEP […]

Mandrake discusses the deliberate disappearance of the former Prime Minister as the public debate around Brexit sours. Anxious about his safety as public anger about Brexit grows, David Cameron – who decided to hold the EU referendum – has more or less gone into hiding. ‘He sees this as a difficult year and has battened […]

Nigel Farage’s market value as a speaker would appear to be plummeting as rapidly as UKIP’s standing in the polls. Freddie Fox arrives for the First Light Awards, a celebration of the next generation of British filmmakers held at the Odeon Leicester Square, London. – Credit: PA Archive/PA Images Mandrake hears that the man who […]

Mandrake challenges the Today presenter John Humphrys to declare the income and hospitality he receives from the Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre Veteran BBC interviewer John Humphrys. Picture: Dominic Lipinski – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images Unlike the politicians that he interrogates on the Today programme, John Humphrys does not have to declare the hospitality or […]

This week’s Mandrake column diaries the attempts to have The New European recognised by the Today programme, and securing an interview with Nigel Farage. At least a couple of scandals before Windrush – it’s actually getting hard to keep track now with this government – Boris Johnson pledged to avenge the attempted murder of the […]

In this week’s diary column, Hitler’s ghost comes back to haunt the Daily Mail and Mandrake wonders how rehearsals are going for Brexit opponents. Oh dear, it’s turned out Nazi again Just as the Daily Mail was pointing an accusing finger at Jeremy Corbyn over anti-Semitism, Adolf Hitler’s ghost came back to haunt the newspaper […]

In a one-year period since he was appointed foreign secretary, Boris Johnson has managed to rack up a £150,000 travel bill for taxpayers, covering just shy of 180,000 miles. My man in Whitehall says the air miles – they would stretch half way to the Moon – are testament to Theresa May’s ‘resolute determination’ to […]