Oprah in the frame as ambassador to Britain

With Barack Obama seemingly set fair for the White House, attention is turning to the baubles that the new administration will have in its gift – most notably the appointment of a new Ambassador to the Court of St James’s. Caroline Kennedy, the only surviving child of JFK, is in the frame but “well-placed sources” are actively floating a more unlikely candidate – Oprah Winfrey.

The theory goes that the media mogul and philanthropist, a prominent Obama backer, is ready to step back from her television duties and wants to perform a greater public service for her country.

“It could be a perfectly sensible appointment,” says Peter Jay, the former BBC economics editor who was Britain’s Ambassador to the United States during the Carter presidency. “You need someone who is close enough to the president to interpret events and get a message back to Washington. It would send a clear message about the new administration.”

Invitations to Winfield House, the ambassador’s Regent’s Park residence, would be keenly sought. Although the 12-acre estate would surely be renamed Winfrey House.

— Kevin Spacey has lured Andrea Corr to appear in Dancing at Lughnasa at the Old Vic. The tale of struggling sisters in rural Ireland may be familiar to her

— We believe that Lord Hogg of Cumbernauld, the genial former Labour whip who died this month, would have been amused by a letter sent to his office by John Austin, MP. It began: “To the Lord Hogg (died October 8, 2008)” and proceded to invite the former MP to a “fracture clinic and photo opportunity” on behalf of the All-Party Parliamentary Osteoporosis Group. The late peer’s office replied that the invitation was most kind, but his attendance was unlikely “due to his funeral in Aberdeen last week”.

— Gordon Brown has a personal interest in Anvil! The Story of Anvil, the heavy metal documentary produced by Sean Macaulay, Sarah Brown’s brother. “Gordon’s big into it,” the director Sacha Gervasi tells us. “He has great big speakers at No 10. He already has big hair. All he needs now is the leather trousers.”

— Back in the carefree summer before the fun and games in Corfu, George Osborne recalled a joint appearance in Birmingham with his buddy David Cameron. “Someone asks him what’s the first thing he’ll do if he becomes Prime Minister. ‘Appoint a new Chancellor,’ I suggest.” The thought might have crossed Dave’s mind.

— Boris Johnson is not best pleased with Hackney Council after we revealed yesterday that bureaucrats had bannned the author Iain Sinclair from speaking on its premises because he criticised the 2012 Olympics. The London Mayor has authorised Munira Mirza, his culture adviser, to issue a statement condemning a “bizarre attack on free speech”. While disagreeing with Sinclair on the Games, the mayor’s team defends “his right to express his opinions without fear of censure”. A back-pedal from Hackney is now demanded.

The Face: Kelly Brook

I haven’t got an interest in rugby, just the people that play rugby,” Kelly Brook told the BBC in an interview intended to plug her stage role in Fat Pig but which inevitably steered towards the former glamour model’s latest celebrity coupling.

While football’s WAGs are out of favour, Brook, 28, and the England fly half Danny Cipriani are keeping the tabloids entertained daily. Is there more substance to the Kent girl, a lad-mag favourite voted the “world’s sexiest woman”, than her wide-eyed teenage performance presenting The Big Breakfast and a broken engagement with Billy Zane?

Critics zeroed in on her bikini scene during Fat Pig, Neil LaBute’s examination of the female form. But Brook nurses a passion for European art films and fancies becoming a producer. After ploughing through minor roles, Brook is back in the spotlight and sure to keep her eye on the ball.

Postscript

— Penélope Cruz is about to fulfil an ambition. “I have always loved Fellini films, since I was a little girl. And now I’m actually doing it. Nine, which we are filming now, is totally based on 8=.” We hope it merits the extra half.

— Matt Lucas and Kevin McGee have “divorced” after entering into a civil partnership lasting less than two years. Lucas claimed that McGee “had behaved in such a way they could no longer be expected to continue living together”.

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