EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Former Tory MP on frontline of Ukraine’s drone war
His political career ended with a salacious online attack, but Brooks Newmark is embracing his new role in another dangerous field.
A photo from Ukraine shows the former Tory MP posing with a drone made by defense tech startup Trypillian.
Newmark founded the firm, which specializes in ‘deep strike solutions’, after moving to besieged Ukraine earlier this year. ‘Our team recently visited one of the combat units and delivered UAVs’ [Unmanned Aerial Vehicles]’ he writes on the internet.
‘It is very important to stay in close communication with the extraordinary soldiers who operate our UAVs. “Their feedback improves our work and helps their work,” explains Newmark, minister for civil society in David Cameron’s Coalition.
The conflict, which has been going on for nearly four years, has been described as the ‘first drone war’, with an estimated 75 percent of military casualties on both sides attributed to drone attacks.
Horrified by Russia’s invasion in February 2022, Newmark founded the humanitarian organization Angels For Ukraine, which personally arranged the evacuation of civilians.
US-born Newmark, 67, would later expand his support for Ukraine by moving there to launch Trypillian; but he still spends most of the year in Britain with his wife, Lucy Keegan, and their five children.
‘We are working with Ukrainian units on the front lines to help improve the technology they use, as well as testing new technology we have developed,’ he says. ‘We have developed drones and related technologies for both surveillance and warfare, but the priority of everything we develop is to protect Ukraine.’
Brooks Newman poses with a drone made by defense tech startup Trypillian
When they met in 2013, Meghan Markle convinced TV presenter Lizzie Cundy that she was ‘really fun, really sweet’. Not so much now. ‘Don’t pass the jam and cookie jar, pass the sick bucket,’ Lizzie, 57, trying to digest the Duchess of Sussex’s Netflix festival special, tells me. Cundy adds of Piers Morgan’s Christmas get-together at The Scarsdale Tavern in Kensington: ‘He needs to understand the true meaning of Christmas; ‘Not making bread and buns, but making peace with his father.’
Lady Amelia’s holiday quarrel with her husband
While most fitness enthusiasts are taking a break from training over the festive period, Princess Diana’s niece Lady Amelia Spencer, 33, and her husband Greg Mallett are continuing to put on the gloves.
In a photo shared online, the couple were seen engaging in an intense boxing session with their trainer Chris Mugisho in Cape Town, South Africa, where Lady Amelia’s twin, Lady Eliza, celebrated her engagement to entrepreneur Channing Millerd over the weekend.
Greg, 35, joked about the training: ‘Embarrassing hand speed but it felt so good shooting today.’
Princess Diana’s niece Lady Amelia Spencer, 33, and her husband Greg Mallett in an intense boxing session with their trainer Chris Mugisho
Lady Amelia with Greg (right) and trainer Chris in Cape Town
Bros. star Matt Goss has no time for mundane ‘happy holidays’ greetings.
‘If you’re a Christian, you should be able to say ‘Merry Christmas,” he told me as he sang his new song, Come Home, to the Nordoff and Robbins carols at St Luke’s in Chelsea. ‘I’m a Christian, so I always say Merry Christmas.’
Toff expresses his complaint about the jet set
Georgia Toffolo took aim at airport etiquette, blasting ads not returning security trays.
He says: ‘You know, when you’re going through security at the airport and the person in front of you doesn’t pick up their tray and put it next to the other used trays, I say, ‘I can’t believe people don’t do that.’ Georgia, 31, admits that despite all her enthusiasm, she is not without sin. Her husband James Watt, 43, founder of BrewDog, also called her out for the same offence, telling the former I’m a Celebrity jungle queen: ‘You always forget to do this.’
Georgia Toffolo blasts ads not returning security trays, targeting airport etiquette
The interactive West End play You Me Tramp Tramp Train remains one of the most popular tickets in town, with all participants sworn to secrecy.
But I hear Elon Musk is among his fans. ‘Elon was there once, playing the role of cashier,’ an insider told me. ‘He had difficulty operating the safe.’
Otter deals final blow to Stella’s Highland designs
They predict their £5 million ‘unabashedly contemporary’ eco house in the Highlands will become their ‘forever home’. But could these words have a darker meaning than what Stella McCartney and her husband, 55-year-old Alasdhair Willis, intend?
The couple, whose plans faced 60 objections, including from Princess Diana’s niece Celia Woodhouse, were given a Christmas present they could have done without: an otter research report. Vegan Stella and Alasdhair, 54, produced an earlier report that concluded there were no otters on site.
Not so, says a new 42-page report that finds evidence of otter ‘natal nests’. He warns that any construction should occur outside the breeding season, May to August. Stella has so far waited three years for planning permission. Maybe it really will last forever…
