Foreign Secretary James Callaghan discussing it. Dempster also socialised with Princess Margaret, he also broke the news of her liaison with Roddy Llewellyn. Dempster also wrote for Private Eye from 1969, where he was responsible with Peter McKay for the "Grovel" column, but left in 1985, shortly before Ian Hislop succeeded Richard Ingrams as editor. In "Grovel", Dempster was able to include material which could not be published elsewhere, and the column was the location of the first articles in the Eye to which James Goldsmith took exception. According to Hislop, Dempster fell out with the publication because he felt (in common with colleague Auberon Waugh) that he should be editor instead of Hislop. The differences allegedly began over an article making false accusations concerning the Conservative politician Cecil Parkinson and his new secretary (after Sara Keays) in Eye 606. The issue had to be reprinted (606A) after a court action with the offending and inaccurate item omitted. According to another source it ended when Dempster revealed that Richard Ingrams' marriage was in serious difficulties; Ingrams, an admirer, had previously called Dempster the "greatest living Englishman". As a result of the differences with Private Eye, Dempster was nicknamed 'Nigel Pratt-Dumpster' whenever he was subsequently mentioned, and became a frequent target of parody by the magazine. After he left the Eye, he began writing his column for The Mail on Sunday in 1986, and thus it now appeared seven days a week. Reportedly a difficult colleague, Dempster missed out on scoops about Princess Diana, and even boasted at one point that he had not met her, according to his Daily Telegraph obituary. He began to drink more, with several incidents involving police breathalysers, and wrote less; his columns had actually been the work of four people rather than Dempster alone. In the view of observers, Dempster's column in his last years lost its bite, and in his industry he was considered something of a relic: "by now a brand rather than a journalistic asset". Paul Dacre, who succeeded Sir David English as editor of the Mail in 1992, reportedly held a low opinion of Dempster's column, and revived the 'Ephraim Hardcastle' feature, under the responsibility of Dempster's old colleague on the Eye Peter McKay, in 1996. Dempster retired from editing the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday diaries bearing his name in 2003 and lived with Lady Camilla Dempster, his ex-wife,