Ben Goldsmith has a friend indeed in Nicky Haslam After his wife, Kate, succumbed to the charms of the hip-hot artist Jay Electronica, Ben Goldsmith, the youngest son of the late Sir James Goldsmith, will doubtless be offered a shoulder to cry on by his old friend, Nicky Haslam. The last time I saw Goldsmith was last month when he was in a jolly huddle with the celebrated interior designer at the Tatler Jubilee Party at the Ritz. Haslam was holding court with, among others, Henry Conway, the son of the disgraced Tory MP Derek Conway, when Goldsmith made the startling announcement: "I think I might be gay." I asked Goldsmith, 31, if my flapping ears had, perhaps, deceived me. "It was a big joke," he laughed. If I was [gay], I would be very public about it. It couldn't be further than the case. I love Nicky, but there's no story. I wish there was a story. I'm ashamed to say it, but I'm so uninteresting. If it was true, I would tell you. I'd be totally unashamed. I think I said to Nicky, if he were 40 years younger and not so hairy, then maybe I'd be gay for him. Haslam, 72, did not dispute what Goldsmith had said to him, but appeared flattered. "Yes, I think he said that, which is a lovely thing to say, though I won't hold him to it," he said. Goldsmith, who has three children by his estranged 29-year-old wife, said on Twitter that he found it "appalling" that she had called the police to the family home in Kensington after an alleged assault. The pair are now involved in what may well turn out to be a messy split.