Pandora: Former Boris aide begins legal tussle over reporting of race remark

If Boris Johnson had hoped that the recent race row at City Hall was going to be quietly swept under the carpet, he can think again.

The London Mayor's former political adviser, James McGrath, who was sacked last week over comments he made about Caribbean immigrants, has now decided to call in the lawyers.

Mr McGrath's legal team have fired off a threatening letter to the BBC to complain about the way the comments he made to an online journalist were reported on its website.

In its original reports, the BBC quoted Mr McGrath as saying to Marc Wordsworth that "black people who didn't like it here could go home".

In fact, what he said was "let them go if they don't like it here", in response to claims that the mayoral election would provoke an exodus of black Londoners to the West Indies.

The quote, which was reported as the story broke, was hastily toned down once the error was noticed. However, as far as Mr McGrath is concerned, the damage was already done.

"James is now after a very public apology from the BBC, otherwise he is quite prepared to sue over the matter," said a close friend yesterday.

"He feels that his career in British politics has been pretty much wrecked by all of the attention, so there is no way that he is going to let this go."

The Australian-born McGrath was hand-picked to be on Boris Johnson's personal staff by his compatriot, Lynton Crosby, who was the chief strategist in Johnson's mayoral campaign. He's now said to be considering job offers back in Australia, but wants his row with the BBC cleared up before he returns.

A spokesman for the BBC said yesterday: "Yes, we have received a letter from James McGrath's solicitors and we are currently looking into the matter."

Gisele: a green warrior?

Supermodel Gisele Bündchen takes a curious attitude towards capitalism.

"Luxury has been perceived as a synonym of wealth and money for a long time, in view of the fact that the elite owns material goods considered to be rare," reads a colleague's note on her eco-blog. "Capitalism is almost everywhere and practically rules the life of the people who end up losing the notion of what is really important."

Bündchen has had lucrative contracts with such names as Dior and Versace. Could this be her "Ratner moment"?

Gok and Alan continue to revel in Pink praise

Good to see that The Independent On Sunday's recent Pink List is still the subject of excited gossip among London's gay celebrities.

New entry Gok Wan, presenter of Channel 4's How To Look Good Naked programme, says he was overwhelmed to be included on this year's list.

"I was No.21, I couldn't believe it," he told me at publisher HarperCollins' summer party. "I was so pleased to see my name on it, it was really exciting."

Meanwhile, the comedian Alan Carr, co-host of Channel 4's The Sunday Night Project, this year managed to break in to the top 10 and is now clawing to reach the top spot. "I was so glad I moved up this year, if I had gone down I think I would have probably cried," he said.

"I just wish that Sir Ian McKellen or someone would die, then I could go right to the top." Steady!

O'Riordan email SOS can't save her hot flushes

Marie O'Riordan, the fashionable editor of Marie Claire magazine, has fired off an urgent email to her closest contacts.

"In a very non-fashionista moment, I flushed my phone down the loo last week. How nice!" she writes. "Anyway, if you want me out of your life and to stay swept away with the Thames sewage, now's your chance. If not, I'd really appreciate it if you would email me your numbers." No info as to how the phone got there, but some things are best left untouched.

* The Olympics minister Tessa Jowell is apparently a regular at an LA Fitness gym in north London which is popular with the capital's cab drivers.

"She works out in a T-shirt with the Olympic logo on it," writes one. "That horrible 2012 one that gave people epileptic fits."

Club king backs Cameron

Beneath the radar, David Cameron has secured his biggest defection from Labour to date. On Monday night, the Tory leader hosted the Conservative Party's annual summer party at the Roundhouse in Camden, north London.

Among the crowd at the £500-a-ticket bash – which included the television presenter Kirsty Allsopp and the Jimmy Choo shoe magnate Tamara Mellon – was multi-millionaire James Palumbo, former owner of the Ministry of Sound nightclub. It was quite a coup for Cameron as Palumbo, despite being the son of a Tory peer, has always been regarded as an avid New Labour supporter. During the 1997 election, he even made his chauffeur-driven car available to his chum Peter Mandelson.

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