Cyberfraud hits ID card opponent

David Davis, perhaps the Conservative Party’s most staunch opponent of identity cards, has been the victim of identity theft, in the form of credit card fraud.

The Shadow Home Secretary only discovered the crime when his bank noticed a string of card purchases in Britain and the US, and contacted him to ask whether he was responsible. Sadly, we don’t know what it was about those purchases that made the bank so suspicious. We’d like to think that at least one of them was a Cameron-friendly bike.

Davis reveals his experience in an interview with Anna Adams, a BBC News reporter. He suggests that cyberfraud should have its own government minister. And has the experience affected his views on identity cards?

“I doubt it,” says a spokesman from his office.

— Undaunted by suggestions that the lyrics “cheek to cheek” may be vetoed by religious censors, Chris de Burgh (of Lady in Red fame) insists that he will go ahead with his planned tour of Iran.

What do those poor Iranians have to do?

— A month ago (March 20): Bob Spink, the whipless former Tory, e-mails Nadine Dorries, his fellow MP, to say: “What is this nonsense about me joining UKIP? How do they make it up?”

Yesterday (April 22): Bob Spink joins UKIP.

— Ewan McGregor disclosed yesterday that he recently had a cancerous mole removed from underneath one eye after too much exposure to the sun. “I had a little skin cancer,” he told BBC One. “You have to be careful if you’re pale-skinned and spend time in the sun with moles. It’s all good now.”

— Even from behind bars Lord Black of Crossharbour continues to make the news. Inmate 18330 of Coleman federal prison in Florida and the former owner of The Daily Telegraph is the subject of the top prize for “spot news” in the second annual National Pictures of the Year Awards in Canada. There he is, outside a courtroom in Chicago, thoughtfully showing a passing snapper his middle finger. And people say that his lordship never thought of the little guy.

— News that John Hutton (the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and, we vaguely recall, something else) is getting involved in a campaign to allow hotel and catering workers to keep more of their tips comes as a surprise to Kris Jepson, of Sky News.

“It’s a pity he didn’t feel this way when I used to serve him and his children dinner at the Fisherman’s Arms Hotel in Baycliff, Cumbria,” Jepson tells the station’s website. “He never tipped us.”

— Tony Blair’s office gets in touch regarding yesterday’s story about the ex-PM’s freebie on the Heathrow Express (he forgot his wallet). They ask us to point out that, after Blair had realised that he didn’t have any money and before he accepted a free ticket from the helpful ticket collector, there was a brief interlude when one of his policemen offered to stump up the cash. We’re somewhat hazy as to why they reckon this makes their man look any better, but hey, they did ask nicely.

Postscript

“I’m really happy for Ben, y’know,” says Casey Affleck, star of Gone Baby Gone, the film his brother Ben directed. “Nobody knew whether he was going to be any good or not,” he tells Empire magazine. “People were surprised. But I really wasn’t surprised. I knew that he’s so much smarter and more interesting than the person who’s depicted in the gossip magazines.” Filial perception, that.

— “I don’t care if people worship turtles or frogs if they’re good people,” Madonna says in reference to Tom Cruise. “I think he gets a raw deal, just as I think the orphans in Malawi get a raw deal.” Maybe she will adopt him.

— Heidi Klum, the supermodel, on the joys of motherhood. “I didn’t want to be mumsy,” she tells US Weekly. “I still wear supertight jeans and heels. Throw away the things that look sloppy and stained. Why would you want to get caught anywhere, even at home, looking like that?” .

— Further news on the joyful impending nuptials between People favourites Gabriela Irimia and Lembit Öpik (thb) as a researcher from Five’s All Star Talent contest in 2006 discloses how they met. “It was backstage at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith,” he says. “I believe my exact words were, ‘Lembit, this is Cheeky One and Cheeky Two’.”

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