Labour party

Just in case last night's Boris-bashing in the ITV debate wasn't enough, Labour have decided to take another jab at the leading Brexiteer today at its 'Tory Brexit Budget' press conference. The room was filled with Remain activists wearing BoJo masks. A number then made their way to the Red Lion in Westminster where they posed with pints and St George flags. Steerpike suspects that the stunt will backfire -- given that Euro 2016 means the nation are about to go to their local watering hole and do exactly this. Still, Mr S welcomes your caption suggestions for the latest Boris attack. The winner will be revealed on Monday.

After Ken Livingstone claimed that Hitler supported Zionism, he found himself suspended from the Labour and his media presence dwindle -- as he was let go from his weekly LBC show. Happily, the former Mayor of London has found a publication that still wants him. Step forward the Morning Star. Yes, the socialist paper has decided that Livingstone -- who recently said ‘a real anti-Semite doesn’t just hate the Jews in Israel’ -- has all the makings of a star columnist.

After the recent local elections, John McDonnell put Labour's 'better-than-expected' results in part down to the efforts of Momentum activists. Alas, it seems that not everyone involved with the hard-left campaign group is so in chime with the party when it comes to Labour values. Mr S understands that Momentum's Marlene Ellis has been suspended by the party over an open letter to Corbyn from the Momentum Black ConneXions group. Ellis -- who previously made the news after she was accused of labelling Chuka Umunna as not 'politically black' -- co-signed the blog post which calls on Corbyn to reverse the 'unjustified suspension of Ken Livingstone' after the former mayor was suspended over his Hitler comments.

Given that Jeremy Corbyn described the BBC as 'obsessed with trying to damage the Labour leadership' in yesterday's VICE News documentary, it's little surprise that his supporters hold a low opinion of the Beeb. Today at Corbyn's EU press conference, his fanbase let their feelings known when BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg tried to ask a question. When her her name was announced, supporters hissed at her, before she asked a question: 'For Labour voters, what do you think is more important? Defending workers’ rights or immigration and the impact on communities in this country?' While Corbyn went on to tell his supporters not to do so, it was a somewhat half-hearted gesture given that he had kicked off proceedings by criticising the media once again.

Labour voters will prove crucial in determining the outcome of the EU referendum, which makes the party's near silence on the issue all the more surprising. Whilst the Labour leadership maintain their reticence, however, the TUC has stepped in with a report out today. In it, the TUC warns that Brexit would cut pay by an average of £38 a week by 2030. Brexit will also send Britain into a 'steep decline', Frances O'Grady, the TUC's General Secretary says. Given that the maths behind this hasn't been published yet, it's difficult to know how the figures were compiled. It's also probably good to be sceptical of such an exact calculation on hypothetical scenarios.

Danny Dorling is one of the warmest and most intelligent left wing intellectuals of our day; an egalitarian, who proposes radical and practical solutions. He is a worthy target, in other words. Oxford University’s professor of Geography has also produced  an essay entitled: ‘Why Corbyn’s moral clarity could propel him to Number 10.’ It is the most cowardly exposition of the left’s great illusion that I have read. More to the point, virtually every supporter of the new Labour leadership will believe it. He makes two claims: Corbyn and the far left are moral; and they can win power. Allow me to take them in reverse order. The assertion that Corbyn can win is not only far-fetched it is a balm to soothe niggling consciences.

Oh dear. Spare a thought for whichever bright spark at Labour HQ is responsible for today's email on the EU referendum. The message -- which has been sent out to party supporters -- asks voters to help Labour campaign to remain in the EU. To do this, they are keen to take the personal approach -- inviting readers to share the reasons they will be voting In. The email also urges recipients to donate money. Alas, a technical glitch means that the email has struck the wrong chord with would-be supporters. Instead of individually addressing each email to the recipient by name, all the emails begin with 'Dear Firstname': A second email has since been sent out presumably with the aim of correcting the technical blunder. Alas, this email also begins 'Dear Fristname'.

In the General Election, a number of Labour supporters defected to Ukip over growing concerns that the party was no longer able to address the issue of immigration. Given that uncontrolled immigration is a big issue in the EU referendum debate, Labour's Remain-ers need to win back trust here. Alas, Pat Glass appears to have done the In camp no favours today while out on the campaign trail. The Shadow Europe Minister described a voter she met on the campaign trail in Sawley, Derbyshire, as a 'horrible racist' after they described a Polish family in the area as 'scroungers'. Speaking to BBC Radio Derby, Glass said: 'The very first person I come to was a horrible racist. I’m never coming back to wherever this is.

The speeches in the Commons which follow the Queen’s Speech blend together humour with some serious points. They are the Commons as its most clubbable, with lots of in jokes and the like. So, there was a fair amount of chatter about how Jeremy Corbyn – who is not the clubbable sort – would deal with the occasion. At first, the answer was surprisingly well. He was funny, and generous, about the proposer, Caroline Spelman, and the second, Philip Lee. The House was laughing with him, and even Cameron couldn’t help but chuckle at some rather good jokes including those at his own party’s expense. But then Corbyn turned serious, and it all went wrong. Corbyn simply went on and on and, to the fury of the Tory benches, he wouldn’t take any interventions.

When are Jeremy Corbyn’s enemies going to get their act together? Today’s Times poll of the Labour membership shows that they would get a rather cold reception if they tried to remove the Labour leader, with 72 per cent telling YouGov that Corbyn is doing well, up from 66 per cent in November. Members are slightly less upbeat about the party’s prospects for actually governing, with 53 per cent believing it will be in government after the 2020 election, and 47 per cent saying Corbyn is likely to become Prime Minister.

Throughout the EU referendum campaign, Labour figures have been somewhat underwhelmed by the efforts of their party leader to fight for Britain to remain in the EU. However, progress did appear to be made on Monday when Jeremy Corbyn launched Labour's big EU battle bus. The bright red bus will tour Britain for six weeks as they try and rally support for remain. Alas word reaches Steerpike that behind the scenes things are not so rosy. A little birdy tells Mr S that the Labour leader has raised concerns that the bus is not to his taste and is 'too corporate'. The Labour leader apparently takes issue with the sheer size of the vehicle as well as the branding. However, the jury's still out when it comes to whether he is happy with the 'vote remain' message.

A dramatic day in Wales today. The vote for First Minister ended in a tie between Labour’s Carwyn Jones and Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood. Labour, despite only having 29 out of 60 seats in the Assembly, had not done a deal with any of the other parties to ensure Jones’ election. Plaid then nominated its own leader, who was backed by the Tory and Ukip AMs as well as the Plaid ones, The Assembly has now adjourned. The Assembly has until 2 June, to decide on a First Minister. If it cannot vote someone in, then the Secretary of State for Wales can call fresh elections. Plaid are now saying, according to the BBC, that they are ‘surprised other parties supported them’ and ‘did not want to give Labour a bloody nose’.

Hell, I wait so long to be right about something and then two bits of stuff come along at once. Nine months ago I said Sadiq Khan would become London’s mayor – partly because he was a very good candidate and a likeable bloke – but more because London is one of the world’s most leftie liberal constituencies. Which should tell you about Boris’s campaigning abilities, no? I also suggested that Labour would do better in the local elections than commentators – and desperate PLP recusants – were predicting. They did. In London, Corbyn is an actual asset to Labour. Beyond the vile metropolis, he is no more of a yoke around the party’s neck than was the hapless cockwomble Miliband.

Although Labour MPs have been encouraged not to brief what happens at meetings of the PLP to lurking journalists, Jeremy Corbyn's team have no issue briefing out what the leader will say at the meeting before it even occurs. Today hacks were told that Corbyn would use the meeting to clampdown on party in-fighting as members are sick of MPs 'parading on the media to give a running commentary'. However, what he actually said is another story. The Labour leader toned down his prose considerably -- presumably in the quest for party unity -- even though his harsher warning was already readable online. Despite this slip-up, the meeting was one of the cheeriest since Corbyn became leader.