With Elon Musk having turned on former ally Nigel Farage, urging Reform UK to ditch him as leader, one of our most prominent aristocrats has stepped in to act as peacemaker.

The Duke of Marlborough, who hosted a banquet in honour of Donald Trump in 2018, has invited Musk to Blenheim Palace to resolve his differences with Farage.

At the weekend, before the world’s richest man turned on Farage, the duke, Jamie Spencer-Churchill, told Musk online: ‘Please allow me to host a dinner for you and friends at Blenheim Palace, as we welcomed Donald Trump. Helping Nigel Farage and Reform UK is priceless for Britain.’

Despite Musk’s subsequent volte-face on Farage, the duke still wants to invite the Tesla tycoon to his ancestral Oxfordshire home, where Sir Winston Churchill was born.

‘I stand by my offer,’ the 69-year-old duke tells me. ‘Of course I would be happy to entertain Musk at Blenheim.’

The duke, who backed Reform at last year’s General Election, wants the party to remain close to the incoming US President and his efficiency tsar, Musk. ‘It’s important to stay hand in hand with Donald Trump and Elon Musk,’ he says.

Musk’s comment that Reform ‘needs a new leader’ appears to have been triggered by Farage’s rejection of his suggestion to join forces with jailed far-Right activist Tommy Robinson.

The duke says he agrees with Farage that Robinson and other ex-members of the British National Party should not be allowed to join Reform.

He added: ‘Do you want a load of shaven-headed “Peaky Blinders” roaming around the country with knives and pitchforks?’

When he declared his support for Farage’s party last June, he said: ‘I’m voting for Reform UK because I won’t vote for Keir Starmer, for obvious reasons, and there’s no point voting for the Tories because they aren’t going to be back for ten or 15 years, if ever.’

Leftie Pilger left £3.4m

He was the hard-Left journalist with highly critical views about America and Britain’s influence on the world – but it turns out that John Pilger made a fortune that many capitalists would envy.

Probate documents now reveal that Pilger, who died a year ago at 84, left more than £3.4million.

Pilger, who grew up in modest circumstances in Australia, left his Tuscan farmhouse – where he reportedly displayed photos of himself with freedom fighters and Left-wing despots – to girlfriend Jane Hill. 

The sale proceeds of his London home were to be shared between Hill and his children, Sam and Zoe, and the rest of his estate between Sam and Hill.

How Richard spiced up his girl’s big day

Best known as the flamboyant alcoholic wearing a long tweed coat in the film Withnail And I, Richard E Grant dug out one of his less famous costumes for his daughter Olivia’s 36th birthday.

The actor, 67, wore the purple suit he sported as fictitious Spice Girls manager Clifford in the band’s 1997 film Spice World.

Olivia wore a black dress and a ‘Prom Queen’ sash. ‘Olivia insisted I wear my purple suit,’ Grant says of the outfit, which ‘has been zipped up in the loft for 28 years’. 

He adds: ‘I was offered the role when she was eight, and her excitement about meeting the Spice Girls is something I will never forget.’

Manicure marathon? Nailed it!

Preparing hair and make-up for a red-carpet event can take ages – and that’s just for the men!

Yet for Wicked star Cynthia Erivo, it was her extraordinary nails that needed a whole afternoon of preparation before the Golden Globe awards.

‘This took five hours,’ says the actress, 37, from south London. ‘My wonderful manicurist did it.’ 

They featured faux diamonds and metallic accents, with each nail displaying a different colour with a quartz marble design. 

Erivo, who played Elphaba the bad witch, is known for her nails. 

Pop star Lily Allen said: ‘I sat next to Cynthia on a plane, and she had the nails. If you’re in business or first class, they bring warm nuts. I was watching Cynthia negotiate her way through this bowl of nuts incredibly unsuccessfully. I would totally have fed her the nuts.’

Miranda’s mother is unlike the character in her show 

Reflecting on the success of her eponymous hit TV comedy, Miranda Hart stresses that her real-life mother, Diana, daughter of the late diplomat Sir William Luce, bears no similarity to the fictional overbearing version played by Patricia Hodge in the show. 

‘My poor mum,’ she tells Radio 3’s Private Passions. ‘When the first series came out, she struggled a bit with people thinking that was her. But, no, my mum does not look down on me or disparage me in such a way.’ 

Hart’s father is Captain David Hart Dyke, a former aide-de-camp to Queen Elizabeth. 

Radcliffe scoops £100m  

Daniel Radcliffe may have disowned JK Rowling over her trans views, but the Harry Potter author did help him to amass a £100million fortune. 

The latest accounts for Gilmore Jacobs, the company into which the 35-year-old actor paid his earnings from starring in the Hogwarts films, reveal that it has accrued £100.4million before bills. 

It reported £64.2million in investments, £4.2million worth of investment property, £21.3million in monies due in and £10.7million in cash as of March last year. 

Schama appeared lost for words with Cliff Richard 

Television historian Sir Simon Schama is not often lost for words, but he appeared overcome while interviewing Sir Cliff Richard for his new BBC Two programme, The Story Of Us. 

In the opening episode, to be broadcast tomorrow, Schama, 79, gushes to the pop star, 84: ‘You were a teen idol of mine. I wanted to be you. Fat chance!’ 

To which Sir Cliff chuckles diplomatically: ‘Ha, ha! Thank God you didn’t make it.’ After Sir Cliff recalls his first hit single, Move It, in 1958 – Britain’s first home-grown rock ‘n’ roll success – Schama declares: ‘It was important for kids like me that this could happen in Britain. It was incredibly exhilarating for us.’