EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: Penny Mordaunt has a private chat with King Charles about her plans for three new vessels which are ‘spiritual successors’ to the Royal Yacht Britannia

Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt has had a private chat with King Charles at Dumfries House about her plans for three new vessels, ‘spiritual successors’ to the Royal Yacht Britannia. 

Getting the King on board with the project was deemed a necessity. Mordaunt, following protocol, should be able to get the nod for them to be called Elizabeth II and Prince Philip if she wishes. 

Sources report that the King would be happy to have access to a royal yacht of some sort. 

It’s thought that Her Late Majesty would have carried on travelling overseas for longer had Britannia been available. 

And a new ship would certainly make long-distance travel for Camilla far easier given the discomfort air travel causes her.

Sources report that the King would be happy to have access to a royal yacht of some sort. It’s thought that Her Late Majesty would have carried on travelling overseas for longer had Britannia (pictured here prepping for a visit of King Charles in July) been available

Jeremy Corbyn’s gallant rush to the defence of Diane Abbott – he describes the Labour investigation of her alleged racist comments as a ‘disgrace’ – prompts the question: Was Jeremy the anonymous recipient of Diane’s ‘finest half hour’ of romping with a naked man in a Cotswold field? 

She has never named the lucky chap, describing him as a ‘long-time friend and very close’ ally who shared his motorbike on a romantic trip across East Germany. 

Abbott and Corbyn enjoyed such a trip in 1979. Shouldn’t Jeremy pen a memoir: My Favourite Hay Field?

Former BBC Newsnight presenter Sir John Tusa leaps to the defence of Melvyn Bragg’s criticism of his old employer for paying Match of the Day anchor Gary Lineker £1.3million – 27 times more than Bragg. 

‘I await the day when a BBC editor responds to a demand for higher pay by saying: ‘This is all the BBC can pay. We will miss you but I wish you the greatest of good fortune in the broadcasting world outside,’ spouts Tusa, adding: ‘Most of those who leave the BBC in search of higher fees elsewhere come to regret it.’

Strictly star Angela Scanlon’s claim that all her youthful Irish dance routines were solo is not strictly correct. 

Angela, pictured, insisting that her Hibernian jiggery hasn’t given her an unfair advantage on the BBC show, once danced on TV with Riverdance’s Michael Flatley. 

‘One of my favourite pictures is of me with violently curly hair in ringlets and him in a sequinned jacket with an oiled chest and a tricolour one side and the star-spangled banner on the other.’ Best kept to yourself, Angela?

Strictly star Angela Scanlon’s claim that all her youthful Irish dance routines were solo is not strictly correct

Seeking election as a Tory MP in England’s largest constituency Penrith and The Border, Rory Stewart adapted his Afghanistan trek routine by walking the constituency in the snow. 

Upon reaching the hamlet of Haresceugh, a farmer told him: ‘Walked from Alston on a day like this? Conservative candidate? Monster Raving Loony more like.’

Under the hammer at Christie’s are six blue velvet Coronation chairs expected to fetch £2,000 each. After the Queen’s 1953 crowning, chairs were sold for £7.50 and stools for £4.35 to help defray the cost of the Westminster Abbey ceremony. 

Peeresses who weren’t to be allowed to sit in the Lords for another five years were given a special dispensation to buy a chair or stool they’d actually sat on.