But did she over-step the mark in terms of privacy law?
Legal Cheek likes Lily Allen. What’s not to like? The Hammersmith-born, cricket-loving singer has bags of talent and, it seems, a complete lack of fear. She’ll happily tell anyone what she thinks of them — recently, for example, she described Donald Trump in a tweet as a “moron”.
Yesterday, Allen turned undercover sleuth, surreptitiously tweeting a series of photos and video footage from a garden party whose guest list included media mogul Rupert Murdoch, UKIP’s former leader Nigel Farage (yes, he’s just resigned — he says he wants his life back having achieved his lifetime ambition), Tory leadership bidder Liam Fox and Star Trek supremo Sir Patrick Stewart.
Whose party this was, and in what garden, is unclear, but Allen did not spare the blushes of a chosen few. Here’s what she tweeted about Murdoch and Farage:
I'm at a garden party. Hope I'm not sitting next to Voldemort or Fromage. I might be sick pic.twitter.com/ILsuu6kDPM
— lily (@lilyallen) July 3, 2016
And she wasn’t too flattering about Murdoch, Farage and Fox here, calling them “w******”:
Liam fox , Murdoch and Farage , breaking bread here. pic.twitter.com/wxY5mZquBb
— lily (@lilyallen) July 3, 2016
Allen also posted an image of Farage — whose shoes are truly remarkable — smiling after she gave him a sarcastic hello. This tweet has since been deleted, but this one is still visible:
Nappy change pic.twitter.com/LPdtTqMEMa
— lily (@lilyallen) July 3, 2016
Apparently, Allen was cautioned by some guests not to post video or photos of Murdoch. To this, she said:
His publications have been making money from publishing pictures of me, though.
True enough, but could Allen have stepped over the legal line with her tweets? She as much as any other celeb knows about the law of privacy, formerly instructing Carter-Ruck to act on her behalf to nail two paparazzi agencies and later using Atkins Thomson against Associated Newspapers when Mail Online published photos of her Cotswold home. Allen is no stranger to media law generally, having also won libel actions in the past.
Did guests at the mysterious garden party have a reasonable expectation of privacy? Were they entitled to attend and assume that they wouldn’t then be photographed, with their images then appearing in tweets and the mainstream media? Or does the fact that the Allen chose to tweet only about public figures — all of whom are engaged one way or another in Brexit, the key issue of the day — mean they were up for grabs, even at a private party?
There are those who will feel that what Allen did just isn’t cricket. There are others who will say that Messrs Farage & Co are fair game, in any arena. Whatever your view, we can all agree (1) that Lily Allen knows no fear, and (2) that Nigel Farage’s shoes are… out there.