Mr Brown and a gay hen night

Updated: 20:00 EDT, 8 March 2009

For nearly three centuries it has been the backdrop to some of the most historic events in our island history, playing host to statesmen, kings and queens. But never before has 10 Downing Street hosted a gay hen night.

Even Gordon Brown was moved by the significance of the occasion as he personally wished the happy couple, edgy comedienne and radio presenter Amy Lame, 38, and her partner Jenny, 33, his congratulations.

Night at No 10: Comedienne Amy Lame

The Prime Minister and his wife Sarah were welcoming members of the 'lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gender' community to No10 on Friday night when news of Amy's imminent civil partnership to Jenny emerged.

'By coincidence, it was also our hen night,' says Amy, whose act includes an impersonation of roly-poly American singer Mama Cass. 'But we cancelled the stripper and spent the evening with the Prime Minister at Downing Street.'

Mingling with gay celebrities including Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills, Erasure singer Andy Bell, artist Maggi Hambling, comedienne Rhona Cameron, MP Ben Bradshaw, and actor turned Labour MEP Michael Cashman, a jovial Brown congratulated the couple, who then invited the PM to attend their nuptials at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern the following day.

Alas, he could not attend, meaning he missed out on the roller-skating champagne waitresses and burlesque strippers.

'Gordon and Sarah congratulated us both and said: "We're so happy for you," ' says American-born Amy, who co-hosts a show on Radio London with comedian Danny Baker.

'Then he made a speech saying how lovely it was to have us spending our hen night with them. He asked us about our wedding plans, so I gave him an invitation and asked him to come down. Sadly, he couldn't make it.'

However, Brown told them he was delighted they were spending their pre-wedding night in Downing Street, adding: 'You cannot legislate love.'

An on-the-run suspected paedophile, who is radioactive, was a tutor to Princess Michael of Kent's son and a host of other high-profile figures, I can reveal.

College principal Thomas Leopold, 42, absconded days before his trial after having large doses of radiotherapy treatment for a thyroid condition.

The Old Harrovian, a former banker with Barclays de Zoete Wedd, who set up a private tutorial college in West London called The Tutors Group, was asked by the Princess to coach her then teenage son Lord Frederick Windsor.

Other wealthy parents, including Prince Philip's friend the Duchess of Abercorn and top chef Marco Pierre White, have used the organisation. The actress Billie Piper was a pupil. The college, which specialises in prepping privately educated children, has around 2,000 tutors on its books.

Yesterday, the company's website was inactive and a tutor tells me: 'Nine months ago, he [Leopold] gave a lecture at Kensington Library about how to behave with children. He also said we should send children cards and presents at Christmas and birthdays. I thought that was inappropriate.'

Parents are charged £58.75 an hour, plus a £150 fee. Private telephone advice from Leopold is £250 an hour and an assessment is £300.

Just how 'toxic' a client is former RBS chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin? Already represented by two seasoned PR figures  -  ex-Ulster Unionist MP David Burnside and former News of the World editor Phil Hall  -  Goodwin is about to welcome a third publicist to fight his corner.

Step forward Richard Hillgrove, former PR to Dragons' Den tycoon Duncan Bannatyne, who has been called in by Fred 'The Shred's' MP, Nigel Griffiths of Edinburgh South, who fears Goodwin is becoming a scapegoat for the banking world.

Intriguingly, Gordon Brown was best man at Griffiths's wedding and the two men were once flatmates. Last year, No10 asked Hillgrove for help over Brown's falling popularity.

Cosy, isn't it?

Wills and Kate's quiet date

Chelsea girl: Kate Middleton

His brother's love life may be complicated  -  especially with Harry apparently rekindling his romance with Chelsy Davy  -  but Prince William has been indulging in more traditional courtship.

At the weekend, William was seen having a quiet lunch with his girlfriend Kate Middleton at chef Tom Aikens's restaurant Tom's Kitchen in Chelsea  -  the first time the couple have been seen together in public for two months.

Indeed, they have been keeping a low profile since the brief split in their relationship two years ago.

On Saturday, the Prince, who is training as an RAF search and rescue helicopter pilot, looked relaxed, wearing suede loafers, a baseball hat and jeans.

But the couple's choice of eatery is interesting, if only because Michelin-starred Aikens's food empire has been in trouble.

His fish-and-chip shop shut last year, and Tom's Kitchen, as well as his other restaurant Tom Aikens, fell into administration only to re-open under a new company. At the time, suppliers said Aikens was 'despicable'.

My old friend James Hewitt has recruited the late Sir Dai Llewellyn's former love Annabel Milnes-Smith as he races to meet an April deadline to open his polo-themed Marbella bar.

Copper-haired Hewitt and Dai were good friends and, as I reported, the baronet left his sick bed between cancer treatments to help the ex-Cavalry officer draw up a guest list for the opening party.

'Dai knew the expat and Eurotrash community on the Costa and Annabel can help James identify the right crowd,' I'm told.

Champers for Champneys boss

Happy couple: Stephen Purdew and his bride Isabelle Cave

Cherie Blair, alas, couldn't make it  -  she was at a women's conference in Liberia  -  but many other clients who have enjoyed the delights of Champneys health resorts were among the 240 guests celebrating spa boss Stephen Purdew's wedding.

Nevertheless, Cherie gave Stephen and his new bride Isabelle Cave, 28, a £500 beech tree  -  as did guests including Liam Gallagher and his wife Nicole Appleton, Labour MP Keith Vaz, EastEnders star Samantha Janus, former England footballers Ian Wright and David Seaman, and chatshow host Piers Morgan.

Says Purdew, 50: 'We asked everyone not to get us presents, but to buy us saplings for the wood at Champneys at Tring which is slowly dying because all the trees are 120 years old.'

The couple's wedding at St George's, Hanover Square, followed by a champagne reception at Claridge's, comes over two years after the birth of their daughter Raffaella Rose.

'We always intended to marry, it was just a question of the right time,' says Purdew, whose son Robert, 17, from an earlier relationship, was best man.

PS

On the eve of the National Hunt Festival at Cheltenham, Richard Dunwoody is back in the saddle despite being warned a decade ago that one more fall would end not only his career, but possibly his life.

However, the former champion jockey  -  best known for his partnership with Desert Orchid  -  is not risking life or limb.

He appears on horseback in full racing silks somewhat bizarrely eating breakfast in a TV advert for bookmaker Paddy Power.

Says Dunwoody, 44, who is planning another overland challenge to add to the £300,000 he has raised for charity: 'It was great to be riding again, though I won't win any races at Cheltenham on Gracie. She's an eventer.'