The Guardian have been trying to out-tabloid the Sun this afternoon, running a scurrilous story claiming the paper has denied nude Harry photo intern Sophie Henderson was forced to strip off. Now sexy Sophie has issued her own statement:

“For anyone worried about whether we were forced against our will to strip off, we are pleased to be able to set the record straight. Please be assured, there is no cover-up at Wapping. It was a bit of harmless fun and we were delighted to have played our part in making the readers laugh.”

Cheeky…

Boris says he doesn’t want it, now Gove follows suit. Guess that just leaves George Osborne then…

Labour wonk-shop IPPR have declared war on the Sun‘s Page 3 girls as they publish a report claiming that the government’s bleeding of motorists via high fuel taxes is just a “myth“. Earlier this week the Sun girls jumped on board the Taxpayers’ Alliance campaign to freeze fuel duty by showing their support at petrol stations up and down the country. Now IPPR has hit back, laughably arguing that the Chancellor “should make every effort to avoid further delays in fuel duty increases“. Will’s argument is unconvincing and not likely to be taken up by the Labour Party. “Vote Labour for higher petrol taxes” is a CCHQ dream slogan…

The Guidogram round-up of the week is going out shortly.

Thousands of Westminster insiders read the Guidogram, everyone from Downing Street insiders to Fleet Street never miss it. This week Guido did what no one else dared and published the naked photos of Prince Harry. It’s not one to miss out on…

Join the conspiracy and become a subscriber to the Guidogram, free, to keep in the loop. You’re either in front of Guido, or behind…

Norman Fowler when Tory Chairman promised…

“I have set out the position of Mr. Asil Nadir fully and clearly. Let me make this clear : we will return the money if it was stolen.”

Is there any suggestion Gove has forced #GCSE English grades down so he can compel more schools to become sponsered Academies?—
Ben Bradshaw (@BenPBradshaw) August 23, 2012

We should allow that he had a big night out last night:

Last night: Ben Bradshaw dancing on stage at cabaret show 'Bitch! Dyke! Faghag! Whore!'—
Eye Spy MP (@eyespymp) August 23, 2012

Which may explain the spelling mistake…

Not content with his union’s £6 million worth of donations to the Labour Party since Ed Miliband became leader, Unite political director Steve Hart forked out £10,000 of his own money to the party in the last quarter. That’s despite Ed pledging to limit all donations to political parties – including those from trade unions – to just £5,000. Hart, who backed Ken Livingstone for the London mayoralty while describing the capital as an “incoherent basket case of a city“, reckons he’s a man of the people:

A beautiful moment voting Labour for Ken. For a fair, decent multi-cultural London – uniting rather than dividing – for the 99% not the 1%.—
Steve Hart (@SteveHartUnite) May 03, 2012

Guido wonders how many other members of the 99% could afford to throw away £10,000 of their own cash…

Labour MP John Mann has been left thanking his lucky stars after he evaded death when his car was sabotaged by thieves. Unbelievably Mann managed to drive 200 miles along the A1 with the wheel nuts removed from each of his car’s four tyres, with a front wheel falling off luckily only once he had reached his destination. The sweating scourge of Bob Diamond said:

“The consequences of this madness do not bear thinking about. I and others could easily have been killed. Nobody could have spotted that the wheel nuts had been removed, which makes the callous nature of the crime even worse.”

Granted Mann is annoying, but trying to bump him off seems a bit extreme…

The decision in the Sun newsroom as to whether to run the Harry pics went down to the wire, but in the end they went for a mock-up involving reporter Harry Miller and a Sun fashion intern, Sophie Henderson.

Judging by this photo of her on her own blog (right), Guido has a good idea why she got the job…