EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Rachel Johnson insists her father Stanley ‘has done more to deserve an honour than anyone’ amid criticism of his proposed knighthood
- Rachel claims Stanley has done more to deserve an honour than anyone
- ‘He’s done more to protect nature and animals than anyone in Parliament’
Forget all the criticism of Boris Johnson’s proposed knighthood for his father, Stanley, no one merits it more, claims the ex-PM’s sister.
‘My dad has done more to deserve an honour than anyone on the previous honours list,’ journalist Rachel Johnson tells me at the Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize at Brooks’s club, in St James’s, London.
‘He’s worked with the Tory party since 1969.
‘He’s improved our natural environment and has done more to protect nature and animals than anyone in Parliament.’
Eyebrows have been raised at the alleged inclusion of Stanley in his son’s resignation honours list.
PICTURED: From the left, Stanley, Rachel, Boris and Jo Johnson
Rachel Johnson claims Stanley has done more to deserve an honour than anyone
But Rachel says: ‘If he is not eligible for a knighthood on the basis that his son was the PM, then the honours system is even more bonkers than we know it to be.’
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, who has designed floors for Buckingham Palace, sympathises with King Charles as he plans the Coronation. ‘Speaking as the patriarch of a large opinionated family myself, it’s a bloody minefield,’ the Changing Rooms star, 57, tells me. ‘I’d expect my entire family to be there, including my naughty, estranged son and his American missus.’
Speaking at the first night of The Great British Bake Off Musical, at the Noel Coward Theatre in London’s West End, he adds: ‘The late Queen ran such a tight ship. But over history, they’ve [the Royal Family] always been badly behaved. It’s nice to be back in the days of the Regency when everything was a bit naughty.’
Oscar winner Colin Firth’s ex‑wife, Livia Giuggioli, has criticised ‘scary’ social media video filters which unnaturally enhance and de-wrinkle the subject’s features. The Italian-born film producer and eco-campaigner has shared this photograph of herself similarly enhanced with inflated lips and flawless skin.
Oscar winner Colin Firth’s ex‑wife, Livia Giuggioli, has criticised ‘scary’ social media video filters which unnaturally enhance and de-wrinkle the subject’s features
‘This is how TikTok wants you to look with a ‘magic filter’,’ she says. ‘Absolutely scary. If I think of all the young girls out there being subjected to this, my heart sinks.’
Ben Fogle has revealed that his son, Ludo, 13, is dyslexic, just like him — but, thankfully, isn’t suffering in the same way.
‘When I was young, dyslexia was undiagnosed and, therefore, interpreted as stupidity,’ says the TV adventurer, 49.
‘I saw a lot of red ink on my essays that screamed ‘stupid’.
‘Things have changed. Ludo is poetic, creative and lyrical with his words, but his spelling is charmingly bad; it looks like gobbledygook. His teachers don’t want to stifle or suppress his creativity, so only mark up a handful of the misspellings.
‘When I was a boy, the smear of red ink that threatened to absorb the whole page was soul‑crushing.’
Former BBC Breakfast host Louise Minchin has taken her duties seriously as chair of judges at this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction.
‘I was delighted when Kate Mosse [founding director] asked me, because I don’t have to go to bed early now I’m not doing Breakfast,’ she tells me. ‘I read late at night and all the books are well‑thumbed.
‘Books come with me everywhere. In fact, every one of the 16 on the longlist has been dropped in the bath.’
When not reading, Louise is training for her first London Marathon next month.
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