Rory Bremner 'saved John Major's bacon' amid MPs revolt

Impressionist Rory Bremner "saved John Major's bacon" when he inadvertently thwarted a Tory revolt against him, newly released files show. Documents from the National Archives tell how Bremner impersonated the then-PM when he phoned Eurosceptic Tory MPs in 1993, asking for their support.

Whitehall feared Rory Bremner's PM impressions

Whitehall''s top civil servant warned that Rory Bremner could leak state secrets that might bring down the Government because the comic's impersonation of then Prime Minister John Major in a prank phone call was so convincing.

Jon Culshaw interview

Nearly 20 years after spoofing John Major on Spitting Image, impressionist Jon Culshaw pokes fun at new generation of stars including Alex Salmond.

Audio: Rory Bremner talks Strictly & the Tory rebellion

Rory Bremner became the third celebrity to leave Strictly Come Dancing on Sunday night after his Cha Cha failed to impress the judges.

He told Radio 5 live Breakfast about the experience and even did a convincing John Major impression.

The best resurrection of the undead came in Craig Brown's Lost Diaries, which assembled a formidable clutch of impressionist talent, including Rory Bremner, Alistair McGowan and Jan Ravens, to deliver gobbets of satire on figures who may have vanished from public life, but burn brightly in collective memory. There was Edwina Currie's diary on her trysts with John Major: "'Essentially,' he coos, 'these proposals for renewing the essential health of our domestic economy are the same as those I previously mentioned.' 'Go on!' I beg him." There is John Prescott, whose malapropisms and bulimia are a gift, and Antonia Fraser on Harold Pinter's poem about Humpty Dumpty as a denunciation of the Bush regime. "Serves you bloody right for being an egg, chum!" Antonia records that, "Both mummy and daddy had their eyes closed in immense concentration." Bliss.

John Major Spitting Image puppet for sale

A defeated prime minister is looking to find a new home after years of ridicule for his TV appearances... John Major's Spitting Image puppet is up for sale.

The three satirists continue to cast their jaundiced eyes over the recent financial meltdown and the failings of new Labour with a rage that hasn't been seen since the sleazy fag end of the last Conservative Government under John Major. Some of Bremner's impersonations, particularly Tony Blair and Ken Clarke, are almost uncanny, and there is a series of wonderful George Parr interviews between Bird and Fortune, especially those with John Bird as a smooth and unscrupulous banker. But the surprise star turn in the show is Gillian Tett, who - as assistant editor of the Financial Times - gives an entirely straight interview with Bremner about the early-warning signs of crisis. It's when you stop laughing that you realise she was being serious.