Keir Starmer, puzzled
(Picture: STEFAN ROUSSEAU VIA PA WIRE/PA IMAGES)Does Keir Starmer have writer’s block? Early last year the Labour leader said he was writing a book setting out his “vision for Britain’s future”. Publisher HarperCollins described the as yet untitled tract as “fierce” and said it would be out in late 2022. But the printing presses have not stirred.
Labour insiders say he’s still scribbling away. So why has the task proved so difficult? Events have overtaken Starmer. In the first draft, written during the Partygate affair, he emphasised “putting integrity back into public life”. Now he faces a school prefect as Prime Minister.
Starmer’s colleague/rival Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, hasn’t dithered with his book. He is already touting for the cryptically titled One Boy, Two Bills and a Fry-Up. He has even released a photo of the front cover.
When Dame Viv Westwood met the Queen’s dressmaker
She was a punk icon, he was the Queen’s dressmaker. But the late Dame Vivienne Westwood and Sir Hardy Amies fashioned an unlikely bond. Westwood’s biographer Jane Mulvagh tells us she introduced the pair over a parrotfish dinner in the Eighties.
“It was a hilarious evening. He kept saying: ‘Well dear, the trouble is, your clothes are so bloody badly cut. We’re going to have to do something about it!’” Eccentric Dame Viv wasn’t too bothered by the Royal Warrant holder’s criticism. She was too busy rubbing her aching legs after a day spent tottering around town in high heels.
“She was wearing her nine-inch platform shoes. Her knees were crouched under her chin and she was getting cramp,” says Mulvagh. Still, a friendship was forged. “They were lovely together.”
Pam role was ‘a life-changer’
Playing Pamela Anderson was “life-changing for me”, says actor Lily James. She donned the Baywatch star’s red swimsuit in Netflix series Pam & Tommy, about a sex tape scandal.
On set, Lily says she learnt to embrace “her body, her sensuality, her confidence”. James is up for a Golden Globe this weekend for her performance.
She praised cool-headed Pam’s ability “to manage that amount of scrutiny and intrusion”.
Nesting time for Cressida
Model Cressida Bonas is enjoying domestic bliss with “two treasures”, her newborn son and puppy. Her ex Prince Harry is having a a less harmonious new year.
Normal people Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal rang in the New Year together and posted some polaroids to remember the occasion.
Florence Pugh is over NYE parties and “grateful” to those who celebrated her 27th birthday at The Standard last night instead of “nursing their NYE hangover”. Tom Daley posted a sober gym selfie, an example to us all.
