Lembit picks a fight with his cheeky presidential rivals

Sir Menzies Campbell isn't the only Liberal Democrat spending party conference scrapping for survival; his ever-reliable court jester Lembit Opik is also battling to secure his political future.

Last month, Opik, right, revealed in an interview with the Financial Times that he planned to succeed Simon Hughes as party president in 2008. With no other frontbench Lib Dems expressing an interest, Opik has since been considered a shoe-in for the post.

Now, he and his supporters have been startled to find two lesser-known candidates in Brighton are already campaigning against him a whole 12 months before votes are due to be cast.

The hopefuls, the popular peer Baroness Ros Scott and a Huddersfield councillor, John Smithson, have even taken to handing out glossy campaign badges to delegates. Clearly taking the threat seriously, Opik has retaliated by hastily producing handmade stickers of his own, bearing the novel slogan IPik Opik.

"Everybody knows I'm going to be standing for president, but I'm not sure what the competition is as yet," says Lembit dismissively when asked about his opponents. "It's not gone unnoticed by Simon Hughes the low-level campaigning taking place at conference, and he's already pointed out that nominations don't open for months yet. My stickers were just a reminder to everyone."

Perhaps Opik's cause would be helped with the presence of his colourful Cheeky Girl Gabriela Irimia, on the south coast. "Well, I'm still not sure if she can make it yet," he replied.

* Mike Tindall and his (minor) Royal paramour Zara Phillips have taken a further step forward in their tortoise-like crawl towards the altar.

The sporty couple, who have been romantically entwined since the England Rugby side's World Cup victory in 2003, have recently purchased a racehorse together.

It is called Collection and is due to be schooled by the former Derby-winning trainer William Haggas as part of the distinguished Highclere Thoroughbred Racing operation.

Sadly, though, it looks as if Tindall and Phillips will have to wait a while for their nag's first outing. It was due to make its debut at Newbury this Saturday but has been withdrawn.

A spokesman for the stables says: "Collection is a very nice horse but we are in the latter stages of the flat season now, so next year will be the year.

"We are, though, still going to try to have a run this season."

* The Calvin Klein model Natalia Vodianova, who is married to megabucks British property heir Justin Portman, really is quite a girl.

The 25-year-old Russian beauty, right, was among the starlets of the catwalk world who attended the glitzy launch party for the Golden Age of Couture exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

It was particularly surprising to see her at Tuesday night's bash, since a friend of the couple tells me that Ms Vodianova gave birth only recently.

"It was very impressive. She only had a baby boy just before last weekend," I'm told.

The infant is Ms Vodianova's third but, as my picture shows, she is unlikely to be out of work (if she so chooses) for very long.

* It is party conference season, which means the usual bout of conspiracy theories doing the rounds.

One which just doesn't seem to stack up concerns Graham Brady, the Conservative MP for Altrincham and Sale West, who has agreed to address a fringe meeting at the forthcoming party gathering in Blackpool on the thorny subject of grammar schools.

Mr Brady, who quit as the Shadow Minister for Europe in May after clashing with the Tory leadership over the grammars issue, had reportedly agreed to appear as part of an ambush on David Cameron. Admirably, Mr Brady dismisses this as utter tosh. "I agreed to do this at the beginning of the year before I left the Shadow Cabinet, when I was worried the issue might be sliding off the agenda," he tells me.

* There are reports that Naomi Campbell may finally be starting to mellow. The cantankerous supermodel, who has helped to launch tonight's well-meaning Fashion for Relief gala to help victims of this summer's floods, normally chooses London Fashion Week to throw one of her trademark hissy fits. But so far, I am told, she has been as good as gold.

"It's most strange. Normally she is a bloody nightmare," one celebrity snapper reports, "but I've covered two events she has attended and she couldn't have been more helpful."

Perhaps Campbell was stung by the comments her fellow clotheshorse Jodie Kidd allegedly made to a Sunday newspaper last weekend. The gangly Kidd reportedly referred to her as a "fucking monster".