His daughter Sasha Swire published a showstopper of a diary in 2020, containing a string of disclosures – betrayals, in the view of many an old friend – which, as one commentator put it, yielded ‘nothing to worry the intelligence services, but plenty to interest Netflix’.
But it seems that Tory grandee Sir John Nott, who died in 2024 aged 92, may posthumously eclipse Sasha, who jotted down the intimate goings-on she observed at Westminster as wife of Foreign Office Minister Hugo (now Lord) Swire.
For while Sasha jauntily recorded that David Cameron was once so destabilised by the scent she was wearing that he announced that he wanted to ‘give her one’, her father, who was Margaret Thatcher’s Defence Secretary during the Falklands War, apparently didn’t limit himself to words but leapt into action – and not just with his wife, Miloska, with whom he had Sasha and two sons, Julian and William.
I can disclose that, according to excited chatter now swirling around London social circles, Sir John had another notch on the bedpost. ‘After John’s death, a man came forward to say he was his son,’ a family friend tells me, adding that, though initially shocked, the Notts swiftly accepted what they’d been told. ‘They didn’t doubt his claim,’ I’m assured.
That might seem remarkable, even bizarre, to outsiders. But friends and family were perfectly aware that Nott – highly intelligent and also quite highly strung, as memorably demonstrated when he walked out of a television interview with Sir Robin Day – was a man of intense passion.
Indeed, his wife Miloska recorded that after half an hour of talking to her, one-to-one, for the first time, Nott declared: ‘I love you and I’m going to marry you.’ His announcement was all the more startling for being made at an engagement party – for Miloska, who was betrothed to one of Nott’s university friends at Cambridge.
In a highly unusual display of reticence, Sasha declines to comment about her ‘new brother’. But it seems that all is as well as it can be, in the circumstances. ‘The family’s made a settlement with him,’ I’m told.
Beeny wins battle over 'Teletubby' grand design
Sarah Beeny has finally won a three-year battle to keep ‘Teletubbyland’-style earth banks built without planning permission at her country estate. The TV property presenter caused uproar among locals after dumping spoil from her ‘mini Downton Abbey’ new-build mansion next to a road and public footpath. Neighbours complained that the five bunds built from excavated soil were bouncing traffic noise back towards their homes and causing pollution. Now, however, officials have granted retrospective consent for the earth banks after visiting her home, a 220-acre former dairy farm near Wincanton, Somerset. They said: ‘Whilst it is accepted that the development represents a visual change in the landscape, they have not altered the wider landscape to a degree that could be considered detrimental. It is considered that any increase in noise that may have occurred as a result of the development will not be at a level that would warrant refusal of the application.’
(Very) modern manners
Love Island star Tasha Ghouri found her boyfriend, wildlife photographer Cam Whitnall, by sending him a message online. And now the former Strictly contestant is urging women to ‘make the first move’. She tells me: ‘I messaged him on Instagram and we met that night, and we have kind of been inseparable ever since. There is such a stigma about men making the first move, and I thought, you know what, he is super good-looking, I’m going to try and get in there.’ This week, Tasha, 27, took Cam, 30, to meet King Charles at a Buckingham Palace garden party.
Kimberley to show off her new man at Cannes
Having broken her silence around her dashing ‘mystery man’ to me last month, Kimberley Garner is preparing to go ‘red-carpet official’. The former Made In Chelsea star is planning to attend an event with her French boyfriend, Raphael Nataf, at the Cannes film festival. ‘I’m going to be quite nervous because I’ve never done it before, so I don’t know how we pose together and how we do it,’ she tells me. Kimberley, 35, who owns clothing business Sunday Swimwear, and restaurateur Raphael, 34, will have company on La Croisette. ‘This year, I’m with my mum, which is really nice,’ she says. ‘It’s kind of cute because it makes it more of a family affair.’ Kimberley, who wore a floral gown designed by Galia Lahav, says of her style; ‘I love classic. I love old Hollywood. I love romantic. I love traditional Cannes. I don’t like anything that’s sparkly or too sexy.’
Who should be sighted roaming the backstreets of Westminster this week but Peter Mandelson – or ‘Petie’ as his chum Jeffrey Epstein liked to call him. ‘He was toddling purposefully up Tufton Street,’ a local tells me, barely 200 yards from the House of Commons. Of course, would-be Labour leader Wes Streeting has deleted the snap of his mother Corrina standing next to ‘Petie’ in her kitchen, both of them beaming with joy a day after Streeting became an MP in 2015.
Sir Elton to fans: 'I am Canadian'
Accepting the Glenn Gould Prize at a Toronto dinner, Sir Elton John endeared himself to the star-studded audience by declaring, ‘I am a Canadian.’ Joking about his latest infirmity, the 79-year-old musician said: ‘I’ve had eye trouble recently and I always make records by looking at lyrics and writing to lyrics. And so I’m kind of f***ed.’ Elton was clearly impressed by the statuette he was awarded. ‘Years ago, I’d be snorting cocaine off it.’
Craig cagey on marriage plans
After multiple postponements over the past four years, has Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood’s wedding been called off for good? In 2024, the choreographer, 61, promised that he and his fiance, Jonathan Myring, who’s 22 years his junior, would exchange vows in 2027 at their Northamptonshire home, but he now declines to confirm that’s still the case. ‘Jonathan is the clam and the greatest encore I could wish for,’ the Australian says. ‘We are still not married. We have been engaged for years and years and years. Something keeps stopping our wedding. I don’t know why. I think it might be down to money as I am doing a house renovation.’ Meanwhile, Revel Horwood blames the strains of having to lift Ann Widdecombe as his dancing partner for his needing a hip operation. ‘I was asked to dance with Ann Widdecombe on the Strictly live tour in the arena, so I said “Yes, absolutely.” I ended up losing lots of weight and having a hip replacement, and was in traction for six months after that.’
Dua Lipa ex Isaac's Italian idyll with beauty entrepreneur
While pop star Dua Lipa is due to be married to actor Callum Turner, her ex-boyfriend Isaac Carew has a new relationship of his own. I hear that the chef and model, 39, known for his popular cookbook The Dirty Dishes, is enjoying a passionate romance with Natalie Enslow, 30, the Swedish founder of skincare brand Fjor. He’s recently returned from a holiday on the Amalfi coast in Italy with Natalie, who previously worked for watchmaker Rolex. She describes the trip as ‘the most magical time’. Isaac split up with Dua, 30, in 2019, after an on-off six-year romance. He later went out with actress Nell Tiger Free, a star of sex-and-dragons drama Game Of Thrones.
Ralph reveals secrets of Fiennes romance
He's a screen heart-throb who’s enjoyed a colourful love life, but Ralph Fiennes wasn’t always so confident with the fairer sex. ‘I was quite shy [in adolescence],’ admits The English Patient star, 63. ‘My social flirtation skills were a bit circular, and it took me a while to have confidence.’ Even while training at acting school Rada, where he met his future wife Alex Kingston, he says on the Rosebud podcast: ‘You don’t have time to go off. [That] sort of came into focus later for me.’ It certainly did. He left Alex in 1997 for actress Francesca Annis, 17 years his senior. They later split up due to his alleged affair with Romanian singer Cornelia Crisan. He then faced further scrutiny in the late 2000s when an air stewardess who seduced him on a Qantas jet admitted previously working as a prostitute.
Chelsea Flower Show begins next Tuesday, but King Charles’s mind is concentrated on his own gardens. The monarch is advertising for a Buckingham Palace gardener on a salary of £26,500 a year – only just above the national minimum wage. But the job does come with single-person accommodation. ‘It’s caring for gardens that thousands will admire,’ says the advert on the royal website. ‘The Buckingham Palace garden is steeped in history.’
Was Kemi Badenoch’s humdinger of a speech on Wednesday helped by the presence of her husband? Hamish Badenoch watched it from an upstairs visitors’ gallery directly opposite the House of Commons despatch box. Once Kemi had finished – having reduced Labour to smouldering smithereens – he quietly disappeared. Style note: Mr Badenoch was in a suit but seemed to have forgotten his tie. Rather Cameroon of him.
