Being forced to leave Downing Street is a painful experience for most prime ministers - but there has been some consolation for Rishi Sunak.

The former Conservative leader tells me that he has risen up the Monopoly board of London property.

'We've now moved to Mayfair together,' says Sunak, 45, whose wife is Akshata, daughter of Indian billionaire NR Narayana Murthy, the founder of tech giant Infosys.

The couple have two daughters who go to school in the capital.

Attending the launch party for Piers Morgan's book, Woke Is Dead, Sunak did not give details of the family's new home, but townhouses in Mayfair generally range from £8million to £25million. Flats in the central neighbourhood typically sell for about £4million.

The couple previously lived in a much smaller home in a mews street in Kensington, west London, which they bought in 2010, a year after their wedding, for a reported £4.5million.

It's now worth an estimated £6.6million.

Referring to the Kensington area, he tells me, jokingly: 'I was squatting there last year a bit.'

Former prime minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty (pictured in May) have recently moved to Mayfair - where townhouses generally range from £8million to £25million

The MP and his wife, 45, own a home in his Richmond and Northallerton constituency in North Yorkshire which they bought for £1.5million in 2010.

The lakeside, Grade II-listed home has a swimming pool, gym and tennis court. They also own a holiday home in Santa Monica, California, worth an estimated £5million.

With a reputed fortune of more than £650million, thanks to his wife, Sunak is Britain's richest former prime minister. Tony Blair and his wife, Cherie, have an estimated £60million.

While Sunak was PM for less than two years, the family lived in the flat above Ten Downing Street, where they had previously stayed when he was chancellor to Boris Johnson.

Rishi says he is enjoying life beyond Downing Street. Smiling, he says: 'It means I get more time to enjoy things like this [party].'

Dame Judi 'still feels the nerves'

She's the celebrated star of stage and screen, yet Dame Judi Dench, 90, still suffers from acute nerves before performing, according to her friend Gyles Brandreth.

He says: 'I'm doing a show with Dame Judi Dench at the moment called I Remember It Well and, interestingly, she gets more nervous than me.

'She shakes before going on stage.'

Hugh spills beans about vegan Heidi

With her sanctimonious social media posts and description of herself as a 'vegan girl', Heidi Kadlecova has become known as a 'vegan influencer'.

Her boyfriend, the Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville, has, however, made her easy meat for those wishing to accuse her of hypocrisy.

For he has revealed Heidi's not a vegan at all but a keen consumer of fish and dairy products.

'She's neither a vegan or an influencer,' says the actor, 61, who separated from his wife, Lulu, in 2023.

Bonneville says of Heidi on the Spooning podcast: 'She has great empathy... but she's a pescatarian and she applauds anyone who has their own food choices.'

She has previously posted: 'Vegan is the only way' and said: 'You need to ask yourself some serious questions on whether you are living a life of kindness...or a life of indifference.'

Heidi Kadlecova has become known as a 'vegan influencer' - but her boyfriend, Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville, has revealed she is in fact a keen consumer of fish and dairy products. Pictured: The couple at the Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale premiere in September

Bonneville says of Heidi (pictured) on the Spooning podcast: 'She has great empathy... but she's a pescatarian and she applauds anyone who has their own food choices'

Royal horse trainer preserves St Mary's legacy

Its anarchic reputation reportedly inspired St Trinian's, the fictitious girls' boarding school created by cartoonist Ronald Searle and turned into films.

Now the legacy of St Mary's Wantage is being preserved by royal horse trainer Nicky Henderson, who's named one of his fillies after the now-closed Oxfordshire school which educated his three daughters, Sarah, Tessa and Camilla.

'We're setting up a syndicate of ex-St Mary's schoolgirls, or 'SMOGS', of which we have about 75,' Sarah tells me, adding: 'We're looking to get 100.'

St Mary's boasts fashion arbiters Susannah Constantine and Daphne Guinness among its alumnae.

Piers books crypt for his party

Piers Morgan, who dramatically quit Good Morning Britain four years ago, was reunited with co-presenter Susanna Reid at the launch party for his new book, Woke Is Dead, appropriately held in a crypt.

'Who is going to walk through the door of the crypt to the Woke Is Dead "memorial"?' Piers joked to guests beneath St Martin-in-the-Fields church off Trafalgar Square, London.

'I'm pleasantly surprised that a lot of faces have walked through this door and aren't afraid to do so. That is part of what I call the recovery plan from the "Woke Mind Virus".'

Guests included Dame Joan Collins, Emily Maitlis, Jamie Redknapp and BBC stars Amol Rajan and Sophie Raworth.

Piers Morgan, who dramatically quit Good Morning Britain four years ago, was reunited with co-presenter Susanna Reid at the launch party for his new book, Woke Is Dead

Sean: I'm an old has Bean

No stranger to swinging a sword down the decades, screen hardman Sean Bean concedes he's getting too long in the tooth for fight scenes.

Due to be seen playing the Sheriff of Nottingham in a forthcoming television series Robin Hood, the Yorkshireman chuckles: 'There's always one big fight that comes up with my roles, isn't there?'

Now 66, Bean however adds of his latest role: 'The horse riding, it's just like a joy, but the fighting, it's physical, it's tiring.

'We had some great fights in Robin Hood. Very fluid... and long. I have to break them up these days.'

Portas swears off buying new clothes

Queen of shops Mary Portas says she's pretty much sworn off buying new clothes altogether - calling fast fashion 'despicable'.

The TV star, 65, says: 'I don't really buy new any more - I always go for second-hand.'

Speaking at the Wimbledon Book Festival in London, Portas adds that she doesn't look at labels.

'It's not about the brand, it's about the fact something's already been worn.

'The most important thing is that we're recycling.'

Frank Auerbach's £38million fortune

He was orphaned when his parents died in the Holocaust, soon after they'd sent him to Britain.

So began a new life during which Frank Auerbach would paint up to 18 hours a day.

For years the artist had scant recognition.

But, 11 months after his death at 93, probate documents reveal a £38million fortune - commensurate with the fame he latterly enjoyed.

Every penny goes to his son, documentary maker Jake.