With a membership which embraces such distinct and different characters as Stephen Fry, on one hand, and the impeccable Edward Fox on the other – with the Bishop of Fulham, Jonathan Baker, somewhere in between – the Savile Club, would seem to be a pretty broad church.

But, it seems, it’s not quite broad enough to permit the election of one of the newest members of the House of Lords.

I can disclose that the £2,000-a-year gentlemen’s club, in a handsome street in London’s Mayfair, will not be welcoming writer and free speech champion Toby Young, who, during the course of an often dazzling and always outspoken career, has, by his own account, fallen foul of a succession of figures in authority.

‘He’s been blackballed – I think for being too Right-wing,’ my Mayfair mole tells me. Adding that Young’s politics – he was nominated for a peerage by Kemi Badenoch in 2024 – were, and are, perfectly acceptable to many of the more youthful of the Savile Club’s members. ‘They like him. His page in the candidates’ book had scores of signatures in support.’

But others were hostile. ‘I think he may have been blocked by a couple of older, Lefty lawyers. So much for free speech.’

The Savile Club – in whose elegant rooms various scenes of Downton Abbey were filmed – may have developed a new appetite for rejection: last year it voted against allowing women to become members.

Young, 62, who established the first free schools – outside local authority control – and has since founded the Free Speech Union, as well as the Daily Sceptic, is likely to turn the episode to his advantage, as he did most memorably following his years in New York, working for the magazine Vanity Fair.

Sacked by its editor, who didn’t like the cut of his jib – he hired a stripper to come to the magazine’s offices on ‘Take Our Daughters to Work Day’ – Young responded by writing a best-selling book, How To Lose Friends & Alienate People, which was made into a film starring Simon Pegg.

Lord Young, pictured, declines to comment, telling me: ‘Even though I’m not a member of the Savile, I respect the rule of Omerta nevertheless.’

Fashion designer Savannah Miller, an advocate of natural births, has revealed that she had to undergo a caesarean section for her fourth child. 

The 47-year-old sister of actress Sienna Miller gave birth to a boy, Theodore, last month. ‘He flipped breech and then sideways when I was in labour, which can be very dangerous,’ she reveals. 

‘It was a real lesson in letting go, to accept that the medicalised version of birth is a vital and necessary thing that we’re lucky to have access to.’

This must have been nerve-wracking. 

Squadron Leader Adam Fox-Edwards, former assistant to the Master of the Household at Buckingham Palace, says: ‘My car was parked in the Royal Mews and the foreman said that it was buried right at the back. 

'He said, “Sir, would you mind taking one of our cars for the weekend?” And he lent me the Queen’s Daimler. 

‘Behind the gearstick were some extra buttons which were for the sirens and blue lights and a special attachment between the arm rest of the two seats. 

‘I asked what this was for and he said it was a special attachment for the Queen’s handbag.’ No ejector seat then? 

Bridgerton star in praise of on-screen nudity...

Some stars hate filming bedroom scenes, but Bridgerton actress Genevieve Chenneour appears to have enjoyed hers in forthcoming psychological thriller Asphyxia. 

‘Nudity is part of being human, and it’s better that someone sees that on a screen than going on OnlyFans and all that stuff,’ 

Genevieve, 28, tells me at the London Rolling Film Festival, where she was a judge. ‘I actually fell in love on set. It turned into a brief romance. 

‘You’re in this kind of bubble together and it becomes your whole world. But transitioning to the real world is not the same. I’m never falling in love on set again.’

Dame Julia Donaldson delights the young with her books such as The Gruffalo and her latest, The Gruffalo Granny, but doesn’t want to spend too much time with her own grandchildren. 

‘I wouldn’t want to look after my grandchildren one or two days a week every week,’ the author tells Saga magazine. Dame Julia, 78, adds: ‘And I wouldn’t want to change nappies.’

Spare a thought for Kirstie Allsopp. 

First, the Location, Location, Location presenter was airlifted to hospital after slipping and breaking her leg while walking home from a beach in Devon, where she had been celebrating her 55th birthday. 

Now, ‘to add insult to injury, quite literally’, Kirstie has had her beloved Land Rover Defender stolen in London. ‘Whoever has my voodoo doll needs to put it down,’ she tells me. 

Josh Widdicombe’s Strictly secret weapon: spray tan

Bespectacled comedian Josh Widdicombe may have looked out of place as one of Strictly’s new presenters.

But at least he tried to get into the spirit of the show in one respect – by having a spray tan. Josh, 43, didn’t join his friends Rob Beckett and Matt Morgan at a party because he had to get up early for the treatment.

‘Rob Beckett said, quite rightly, “You’ve got to have a spray tan, because everyone has got spray tans, so you’ll look really pale if you don’t,”’ Matt says.

‘He’s right, the telly just bleaches you out.’

Take two! Coco weds Max, again 

Coco Fennell’s wedding to photographer Maximillian Webster last December appeared to have everything.

The fashion designer’s father, society jeweller Theo Fennell, created the rings; her sister, the Oscar-winning film director Emerald Fennell, was a bridesmaid and Dame Joan Collins was among the guests.

All the ceremony lacked was a qualified registrar. Max’s father ‘officiated’. But the couple needed to exchange vows again at the weekend, at Hackney Town Hall.

‘Legally wed,’ confirms Coco, 35, who wore a chic white kimono jumpsuit. At last!