Tim Walker: Nat not on your yacht: Ephraim in frame: Tim sings hymn: And a Dickie Nickie

Did the Telegraph's gorgeous Mandrake gosser Tim Walker really scoop the nationals by revealing that George Osborne and Lord Mandy Hello Sailored with Nat Rothschild on rich bastard Deripaska's yacht off Corfu? Tim told Madame Arcati that he did (but he didn't say Nat was on board), the Sunday Times' Martin Ivens seemed to claim that he did, or did he? A noted observer writes in ...

No, no: Ivens claimed the scoop about the fact that Mandy had been "dripping poison". Ephraim Hardcastle in the Mail placed Mandy and Osborne at lunch together in Corfu; then Ivens got briefed about "poison" (this to be fair is what he claims, though he did do it rather painfully, agreed); then Tim Walker did the yacht minus Nat; then Nat put himself there (in the Times).

God, this is now getting dull but we do need it to be right if we are going to start boasting, don't we Tim?

Dear Noted Observer,
Thank you for your clarification. Or is it?
MAx

Oh, and now Tim has written in. May as well bung it here ...

From The Office of Tim Walker, The Telegraph

Dear Madame,
It all gets a bit confusing, but the fact is we said in Mandrake that Mandelson and Osborne had been on Deripaska’s yacht. One week later the Sunday Times reported that Mandelson and Osborne had been on Deripaska’s yacht. We have had a lot of other exclusives on Mandrake though and certainly a lot more than any of our so-called rivals: Mark Thatcher’s secret wedding, Dame Maggie Smith's fight with breast cancer, Joanna Trollope quitting her publisher Bloomsbury and Hello!'s £500,000 deal with Peter Phillips for coverage of his wedding… I could go on but I am a) too modest and b) have to write up more big scoops for tomorrow’s column. Best of luck with your entertaining website.
Best, Tim

Dear Tim,
Darling, it appears you have conceded that Nat appeared on the yacht a bit after your first entirely authentic scoop. Now that we've got that out of the way, we can celebrate your many and several story devirginalisations. Nesta sends her love.

Oh, and did you see gosser Richard Kay's story today in the Mail about Britt Ekland's Christmas plans? Lifted word for word from Teletext's Showbiz Spy, a source whispers to me. Nice to see tabloid environmentalism in action.
MA x

Tim Walker: Mandy/Osbo/Nat scoop mine, not Ivens'

The Telegraph's Mandrake gosser Tim Walker writes ....

I am Tim Walker and I am cheered by these kind remarks. The only reason I started boasting about the Deripaska/Osborne/Rothschild/Mandelson (perm any pair you choose as we mentioned them all in our first story) is that Martin Ivens of the Sunday Times claimed in the Guardian media section that this scoop was his. It was not at all.

Dear Tim,
Thank you, darling. In the light of this explanation, I fully concur. Ivens' vainglorious piece was truly comic, especially since he claimed he and his mighty paper would be pursuing Mandy ... and delivered precisely nothing so far as I can see, beyond lots of made-up questions designed to bring about a third Mandy resignation. Mandy is Arcati's hero, his media manipulations are a thing of Banksy, though I wouldn't expect you to agree with that. MA x

Tim Walker: Nitwit Nat not on yacht (to start with)

Mandrake gosser Tim Walker of the Telegraph writes today, "After my revelations about how Nat Rothschild had been hobnobbing with the Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, George Osborne and Lord Mandelson during the summer ... "

Ooh, let's stop there, duckies. It's true Tim first revealed on October 5 that Mandy and Osborne had been hobnobbing with Deripaska on the last's yacht - a very fine scoop I'm sure - but in the report no mention was made of Rothschild being on board, though he was described as the Russian's "close business associate". This changed when Nat wrote to the Times on October 25 making his various claims and placing himself on the yacht. Then Tim included Nat in his bulletins. Please amend your opening line, Mr Mandrake.

Tim's Oct 5 report (though the report carries a later date)