Gwyneth orders £15,000 mobile

It is the Rolex of the mobile phone world. A gold-fronted, crystal-encrusted handset with an in-built hotline to a personal assistant who will get the owner a table at the Ivy, a seat on Concorde or tickets to Glyndebourne.

When the new Nokia Vertu was unveiled in January, few could imagine who would pay £15,000 for it.

Today they have their answer.

American actress Gwyneth Paltrow has put in an order before the phones go on general sale in London.

A spokeswoman for Vertu said: "Gwyneth Paltrow is our first customer. But this is not just a phone for celebs, it is for anyone who appreciates beautiful craftsmanship." The handsets are handmade with either a stainless steel, white gold, yellow gold or platinum front. The face is encrusted with crystals, the sides are bound in leather and there are ceramics on the back.

There is even an anti-theft device to disable the Sim card.

The phone boasts none of the latest gizmos; it does not have a camera and does not run on the faster GPRS system. "We want to provide a technology which is proven to work," the spokeswoman added. "We are simply producing luxury communication devices."

Ms Paltrow, who came under fire earlier this month after accusing British men of being useless at dating, now claims she loves all things British and prefers Britain to America.

In an interview in America she says she considers Brits to be "fantastic, funny and super welleducated"-She said: "I spent this fantastic time in London, having great dinner parties where everyone was talking about politics and history and art and literature.

"I was at a party back home and there were a bunch of young people and this girl was like, 'Oh, my God! Are those juicy jeans?' I thought, 'I can't live in this country. I have to go back to Europe.'"