EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Amid CV row, Labour donor leaves lofty London membership

She is the Labour donor who has just been nominated for a peerage by Sir Keir Starmer.

This is a remarkable decision, given that just before Christmas she admitted to being misleading about her qualifications and, in a separate case, runs a foundation now being investigated by the Charity Commission.

But that isn’t the limit of Dame Ann Limb’s current achievements. I can disclose that her membership of the illustrious Athenaeum – the London club known for bishops, boffins and brainpower – is no more.

‘Her membership has ended, but I don’t know in what manner,’ an Athenaeum habitue tells me, explaining that Dame Ann’s future at the St James’s institution had been in doubt ever since it emerged she wrongly claimed she had a PhD.

It’s a stunning reversal of fortune for Limb, 72, who has so far bunged the Labour Party some £50,000.

Until 2024, she was the Athenaeum’s chairman – the latest and most exalted of a series of positions she’s held at the club.

But her departure has, I’m afraid, done little to bring relief to Dame Ann’s successor in the hot seat: Sir Philip May, husband of former Conservative prime minister Theresa. ‘The club authorities are refusing to make any statement,’ says a member. 

They explain that, in consequence, it is unknown whether Dame Ann resigned of her own volition, after Sir Philip had a quiet word with her over coffee, or was expelled.

‘Many are furious with Philip May because they believe that his refusal to make a statement is bringing the club into disrepute,’ one of the disgruntled crowd tells me.

But Sir Philip’s difficulties are less acute than those now faced by Dame Ann, who, since 2021, has also chaired the City & Guilds of London Institute.

The institute is now being investigated by the Charity Commission after being accused of making financial incentives to its executives, encouraging them to sell part of the organisation in a deal which led to the CEO pocketing £1.74million and the CFO £1.2million. 

Dame Ann holds neither of these positions. A charity spokesman said: ‘We remain confident that all actions taken by the trustees have been proper, transparent and in line with our charitable purpose.’

Dame Ann declined to comment, as did Sir Philip.

Yet I’m intrigued to see that her Who’s Who entry – last updated on December 1 – lists not only her fictional PhD but also an MA, albeit not from the Institute of Linguists, where she previously claimed she had earned an MA, but from Liverpool University.

Tory peer Michael Forsyth, who has beaten ex-ballerina Deborah Bull to become Lord Speaker, is not a man naively to trust. Some years ago a new minister, Nick True, was about to make his debut in the Upper House. 

Pleased to see that the first question was to be from party colleague Forsyth, he gushed: ‘I’m glad it’s you asking it.’ Forsyth replied: ‘Yes, yes, good.’ Come the event, as True relates: ‘He asked me a right b*****d.’ 

Mia and the ‘lethal’ stately staircase 

Rising star Mia McKenna-Bruce didn’t realise she was dicing with real danger when she agreed to play the lead in Netflix’s adaptation of Agatha Christie’s The Seven Dials Mystery.

The 28-year-old actress broke her right foot stumbling down the ‘lethal’ staircase at Badminton House, Gloucestershire.

‘As soon as I walked into Badminton, I thought that floor was over-polished,’ says co-star Helena Bonham Carter during an event at the British Library in London.

She claims the Duke of Beaufort, who owns the house, above, doesn’t even use the staircase because it’s so dangerous.

And Harry Potter star Helena, 59, says she also slipped. ‘The staircase attacked us. They are lethal,’ she adds.

The duke declined to comment.

Hailed as a trailblazer after becoming the first stand-up comic with ataxic cerebral palsy, Rosie Jones has found herself under attack from GB News star Adam Brooks.

‘Most won’t say, but I will. I find her impossible to watch,’ the Essex-based publican says. ‘I struggle to understand her, and I don’t find her jokes funny at all.’

He adds: ‘All this attention seems to have gone to her head.

‘Let’s be honest now, half the people clapping loudly, virtue-signalling loudly about her, are doing so to look like amazing and edgy people.’

Rosie, who has appeared on television shows including Live At The Apollo and Channel 4’s 8 Out Of 10 Cats, declined to respond.

Why Forbes is back in a swimsuit for her super 60s 

Emma Forbes once swore she’d never wear a bikini again after 55.

But now she’s 60, the broadcaster feels more confident than she did 20 years ago.

Posing on a beach in a black swimsuit for an online post, Emma revealed her sculpted figure is the result of a year-long commitment to nutrition and exercise.

‘It’s been one hell of a journey,’ she says. ‘I wish I hadn’t waited until my 60th year – but better late than never.’ On her health regime, Emma, adds: ‘I wanted to do it through nutrition and exercise, but as a lifestyle change not a passing fad. It’s become my total, utter passion – trained as a nutritionist not to practise but to fuel my knowledge.

‘I feel better at 60 than I did at 40 or 50.’

Turning 90 this year, eccentric actor and explorer Brian Blessed announces optimistic plans for his fourth expedition up Mount Everest. ‘I’m very fit and good at altitude,’ the Flash Gordon star bellows. 

‘It doesn’t bother me and I’m bench pressing 300lb in the gym. It’s my love of life. I’m planning to climb Everest again this coming summer.’ 

His last attempt in 1996, without supplemental oxygen, saw him climb 25,200ft without reaching the summit. 

Also passionate about space travel, Blessed adds: ‘I’m working on a film encouraging people to go to Mars…we belong out there and not just here.’