Cardinal takes on bastion of job discrimination - the monarchy

Refuse to give a job to a Roman Catholic and you’d soon find yourself facing a claim for religious discrimination. Unless, of course, you’re trying to fill a vacancy on the British throne.

Now the country’s most senior Roman Catholic has called for the repeal of 300-year-old laws barring members of his church from becoming monarch. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, says the ban, which even forbids anyone in line to the throne from marrying a Catholic, is outdated and amounts to discrimination. He plans to raise the issue with Gordon Brown in the autumn and is confident “common sense will prevail”.

Catholics were disappointed when the prime minister failed to include the issue in a series of proposed constitutional changes announced last month. “Most people can’t understand why a member of the royal family can marry a Sikh, Hindu or Jew but not a Roman Catholic,” said Murphy-O’Connor. “Most people would agree that it isn’t right.”

Of course, there’s just one small problem to overcome. Does this mean that one day a Catholic could become head of the Church of England?

Versatile son of Iain Duncan Smith bridges the political divide

Student actor Edward Duncan Smith is nothing if not versatile. Not content with playing Alastair Campbell in a play about Tony Blair, it’s now emerged he’ll also be taking the part of his dad - Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader.

In Tony! The Blair Musical, the 20-year-old history student will join a barbershop quartet of former Tory leaders: IDS, William Hague, Michael Howard and John Major. (IDS will be humming quietly, of course, while Major will suddenly find everybody else is singing from a different hymn sheet.)

Is it a surprise IDS has failed to inspire a love of politics in his son? “When I am watching TV and a politician comes on,” Edward says, “I immediately change channel.”

- Not content with a devolved Scottish parliament, first minister Alex Salmond now wants a devolved honours system with the titles of Freeman or Guardian of Scotland replacing knighthoods and CBEs. That’s if Freeman of Scotland doesn’t sound too much like a chain of shoe shops.

Sandra Howard’s tale of success will cheer Tories

A roll on the drums, please, as we attempt - without a safety net - to mould the words “Conservative” and “great success” into the same sentence. Because it appears that Sandra Howard, wife of former Conservative leader Michael, is enjoying great success as a romantic novelist. Her debut novel, Glass Houses, has sold 10,000 copies and now she’s signed a deal for a “nice sum” to write two more books.

She certainly won’t be short of inspiration: “David, a tear rolling down his boyish, aristocratic cheek, took the Conservative party in his strong arms as they admired the Ealing sunset together. ‘Sometimes,’ he said, ‘I don’t think you love me at all’.”

- Which Hogwarts house would each party leader be in? Harry Potter author JK Rowling reckons Gordon Brown would be in Gryffindor (red house) while David Cameron goes to Ravenclaw (blue). Which leaves an obvious candidate to be house captain of Slytherin. Step forward, Peter “Lord Voldemort” Mandelson.

- The Queen will tweak her net curtains tomorrow to find that caravans have parked on her land. Three will be drawn up in the courtyard at Buckingham Palace, where the Duke of Edinburgh is hosting a garden party for 7,000 members of the Caravan Club. Prince Philip is club patron, but has he ever actually spent the night in a caravan or slopped out a chemical toilet? A palace spokesman, struggling to get the Calor gas cylinders ready in time, says: “He’s done most things but I just don’t know.”

- The Alastair Campbell Diaries Sunday, July 22, 2007

Notice frenzied bidding on eBay for my brilliantly outspoken book, The Blair Years (still available at proper bookshops for £25). With one day left in auction, the price yesterday had already reached £3.20. Of course, once the Sunday diary columns get hold of this they’ll have a f****** field day.

- The Politicalbetting website has called on David Cameron to resign as Tory leader over the summer and stand again in a “back me or sack me” ultimatum to his party. Mike Smithson, the site’s creator, says: “Such a move would get him into the headlines again and could impede the Brown media honeymoon.” By complete coincidence, it would also open a handy new market in political betting.

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