EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Why Boris Johnson’s gift to his father Stanley was dead on arrival 

Stanley Johnson was delighted when his son, Boris, and daughter-in-law, Carrie, declared that they were getting him beavers for his 80th birthday last year.

Sadly, the I’m A Celebrity star has revealed that the furry rodents never did arrive at his Exmoor estate — and he was instead handed the pelt of a dead beaver by Boris.

‘The Prime Minister actually promised to give me some beavers for my birthday down on the farm in Somerset,’ Stanley says.

‘It’s turned into something slightly more complicated, because the Government haven’t yet authorised the release of beavers to wild rivers. So he actually arrived with a beaver skin instead.’

To add insult to injury, the animal’s skin was in fact a gift to the PM and his wife from their good friend, the environmentalist Derek Gow, who has a ‘rewilding’ farm in Devon. Gow breeds beavers and wildcats in the hope of releasing them into the wild, and procured the pelt from a beaver which was run over by a vehicle in Bavaria, Germany.

He owned it for educational purposes; beavers became extinct in this country 400 years ago as they were hunted for their thick, warm coats.

Luckily, Gow also has a thick skin. ‘I do not care that Boris has given the gift away,’ he tells me, adding: ‘Stanley is a lovely man and has done a lot for the environment.

Gow wonders if Carrie rejected the gift because, although she loves animals, she may be disgusted by their fur: ‘Like with every present, some of them are useful and others may be repulsive and better given to your parents.’

Stanley hopes to be allowed to release wild beavers on his estate once the Government makes it legal to do so.

Boris hinted at such a plan during his keynote speech at the Conservative Party conference, when he declared: ‘Build back beaver.’

While Boris and Carrie enjoy a luxurious stay at his grand Marbella villa, Zac Goldsmith is on an enviable trip of his own. I hear he’s been taking tours of beautiful rainforests and attending banquets in Colombia, even though it’s on the ‘red list’ of seven Covid-hit countries.

The South American nation is off-limits to most Brits as visitors must spend 11 nights in a quarantine hotel at £2,285 a head on their return.

Luckily for Lord Goldsmith, he’s there on Government business so is exempt from the restrictions.

Jamie seeks a Duke of Fork

Here’s a double whammy of an opportunity to work for Prince Charles and Naked Chef Jamie Oliver. The unlikely pair are searching for a ‘Duke of Fork’ to run their latest project.

The new head of their Food For The Future campaign will be paid up to £35,000 a year to teach schoolchildren in the south of Scotland ‘to think about food and waste in a completely different way’.

Whoever gets the plum role will be based at Dumfries House in Ayrshire and will also work with C4 star Jimmy Doherty, who presents Jimmy’s Farm.

Jamie Oliver says of the work: ‘I’ve developed a series of recipes, tips and hacks to show the kids taking part how to make their food go further so they can limit food waste at home.’

Parents had better brace themselves to be scolded for throwing away potato peelings.

Beard lays bare her own history

Did Professor Mary Beard indulge in more licentious activities at university than the library- led existence that she has previously disclosed?

Beard interviews Sex Pistols biographer Jon Savage for the Cambridge University Classics magazine, and he tells her: ‘I spent my first two years at Cambridge in a blizzard of drugs . . . as soon as there were other attractions like sex and drugs, academic work took second place.’

To which the BBC Arts presenter replies: ‘I was more of a swot, even if I did some of the stuff that you did, too.’

Do tell us more about those wild Dionysian nights, Mary.

Drenched in fizz. Ah well, Tigerlily is a rock star’s daughter…

Queen drummer Roger Taylor partied so hard in his heyday that fellow rock star Steven Tyler once claimed he ‘spent a lost week in a hotel room’ with him.

Now, his exotically named daughter, Tigerlily Taylor, appears to have developed his sense of fun.

The lingerie model, who attended £38,130-a-year Bedales School with Cara Delevingne, celebrated her 27th birthday with friends at the weekend. But far from having a quiet night in, Tigerlily, whose mother is former model Debbie Leng, was sprayed with champagne while wearing a skimpy green satin dress with hot pink lace.

She then waded, fully clothed, into the indoor swimming pool.

Describing it as the ‘best weekend of my life’, she later treated her pals to a jam session on the drums.

BBC star Jane Hill broke down barriers when she ‘came out’ in 2009. But now the newsreader has slammed the Corporation for failing to increase the number of gay women in its newsroom. 

‘There are bits of the BBC that aren’t bad, but I still joke — “joke” in inverted commas — about being the only lesbian in the newsroom. You can count us on one hand.’ Hill, 52, who’s married to camera operator Sara Shepherd, adds: ‘Why? Where are they all?

‘What’s going on? That is still an issue — representation is hugely important.’

Bond girl designs DIY dress to thrill

Naomie Harris transformed the role of Moneypenny in the 007 films, from M’s blushing secretary to an active MI6 field agent alongside Daniel Craig.

And in real life, she’s keen to prove that she’s just as glamorous as any Bond girl.

The 45-year-old No Time To Die star turned up at the Ivy Asia restaurant in London at the weekend wearing an orange maxi cut-out dress she’d created herself.

‘Dress designed by me,’ she says. It certainly left fellow diners shaken AND stirred.

The Great British Bake Off star Paul Hollywood is hitting the road on tour, but fans will need an awful load of dough to afford his most expensive seats.

He’s cramming in 18 dates, showing fans how to bake buns and cakes live on stage. And with VIP packages costing up to a whopping £175, that’s a recipe to make a decent crust.

 He’s a daredevil, says Amanda of new love

As Watson’s wife in BBC hit Sherlock, Amanda Abbington was used to finding herself in tricky situations.

None were as dangerous, though, as those faced by her new boyfriend on a daily basis. He is ‘daredevil’ and TV stuntman Jonathan Goodwin, 41.

‘Jonathan sets fire to himself and catches bullets for a living, but is also grown up, sensitive, and considerate,’ gushes Amanda, 47. ‘I’m completely besotted.’

The couple made their public debut at the weekend by sharing their first picture together while on a trip to Vienna.

Abbington has two children with her ex-boyfriend of 16 years, The Office star Martin Freeman, who played her husband in Sherlock.