Carol & Linda to Heal the Rift?

Isn’t it amazing how many new friends you acquire when you achieve your 15 minutes of fame? When Carol Thatcher returns to these shores from the jungle she may well be rather surprised to find her ‘good friend’ Linda McDougall quoted in most of the papers. 'I love her to bits; she's one of the nicest, funniest people I've ever met.’ McDougall gushed to The Guardian. “I’m very fond of her,” she told the Telegraph. The truth is the two had a massive falling out following the TV documentary they made together about Carol’s father in 2002. Having reassured Lady T’s advisers that McDougall could be totally trusted, the Jungle Queen felt totally betrayed and humiliated by McDougall’s Sunday Times article where she went into minute detail about the state of the Iron Lady’s health. McDougall, who’s married to maverick Labour MP Austin Mitchell, felt she’d written a sympathetic piece and couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. Now that Carol has also talked about her mother’s health in public maybe a reconciliation is on the cards.

From my diary in today's Independent on Sunday