Katy Balls

Today's PMQs marked a return to old form for Jeremy Corbyn. After two reasonably successful bouts against the Prime Minister, the Labour leader appeared to struggle as he failed to land any knockout blows. Corbyn focussed on the NHS, beginning with mental health. While he claimed the NHS has gone into its worse crisis in its history, May managed to bat off his concerns fairly easily -- even if he did expose some vulnerability in the government's record. On funding, she simply pointed out that the Conservatives were giving the NHS more than it had originally asked for -- something Ed Miliband had refused to guarantee at the general election. On cuts, the Prime Minister explained that the only party cutting NHS spending was Labour in Wales.

Today's Brexit debate was likened by one Conservative politician to a 'group therapy session'. If that therapy session involved members of the same family turning on one another in a bitter feud then it was a rather apt description, as MPs used the session to air their personal grievances over the government's handling of the referendum result. With Theresa May forced to make a last minute amendment to Labour's motion on Tuesday night in order to prevent a Tory rebellion, it came as little surprise that the session was dominated by Conservative in-fighting.

There was a sombre mood in the chamber this afternoon as MPs gathered to discuss the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Aleppo. After Russian planes dropped bombs that destroyed a UN aid convoy, Andrew Mitchell called for the Commons debate -- drawing parallels between Russia's disregard for international law today and the fascist regimes of Germany and Italy in the 1930s. Supporting Mitchell's call for a no-fly zone, Labour's Alison McGovern gave an emotional speech as she urged the government to do so 'if it can be shown to be an effective way to protect civilians'. Referring to her late friend Jo Cox, McGovern -- the co-chair of the friends of Syria group -- said that if the Labour MP were still alive today she would have 'been here and would have known what was needed'.

Although Jeremy Corbyn's spokesman described tonight's meeting of the PLP as barely registering on the Richter scale in terms of hostility, it could hardly be described as an hour of sweetness and light. While the meeting appeared to get off to a good start with loud cheers that could be heard from the corridor, it later transpired that the applause was for Rosie Winterton -- the chief whip Corbyn sacked -- rather than the Labour leader himself. When Corbyn praised Winterton for her work in the role over the past six years, he was heckled by MPs who questioned why he had fired Winterton if he really thought so much of her. Corbyn didn't have much more luck taking questions from his MPs.

The branches on Jeremy Corbyn's olive tree appear to be experiencing a case of stunted growth. The Labour leader had joked that he would grow one as part of his efforts to tempt moderates back and assemble a full frontbench team. However, since he unceremoniously sacked Rosie Winterton as Chief Whip in the first move of his reshuffle last week, relations between the Corbynites and the moderates are -- once again -- frosty. Wounded by the departure of a popular colleague -- along with a shadow cabinet which fails to have Labour's only Scottish MP as the secretary for Scotland -- a number of MPs no longer feel the need to put on a brave face over Corbyn's re-election.

The latest Ukip leadership contest to succeed Diane James has descended into chaos after Steven Woolfe was rushed to hospital. The Ukip MEP -- and leadership hopeful -- is reported to have regained consciousness after an incident in European Parliament this morning. In a statement at lunchtime, the party claimed Woolfe had been 'taken suddenly ill in the European parliament building in Strasbourg this morning'. But was this an entirely honest version of events? Details have since emerged that suggest Woolfe was actually taken to hospital after he was punched by a party colleague -- alleged to be the party's defence spokesman Mike Hookem -- at a Ukip meeting.

Although Nicky Morgan suggested yesterday that the government could be about to water down its grammar school proposals, Justine Greening showed no such signs in her conference speech. The Education Secretary received a standing ovation as she went on the offensive in defending Theresa May's plans for a return to selective education. In a sea change from her claim this summer that she was simply 'open minded' to the idea, Greening put in a fiery defence of the proposal to lift the grammar school ban. After paying tribute to her own comprehensive roots – as the first ever Education Secretary to attend a non-selective state -- Greening explained that education was at the heart of the government's plan to create a meritocracy.

Good news for Liam Fox. It looks as though the Secretary for International Trade may have a job after all. After No.10 failed to confirm that Britain would leave the EU customs union as part of Brexit, a number of naysayers -- including Nick Clegg -- suggested Fox's department could be left unable to strike any trade deals with the rest of the world. Today on Sunday Politics, Chris Grayling gave the strongest hint yet that Brexit would require Britain to leave the customs union.

Down-hearted moderates at this year's Labour conference have received a much-needed boost this afternoon from the party's Deputy Leader. Tom Watson gave a barnstorming speech to congregates as he defended Labour's record in government and vowed to take the fight to the Tories in the next general election. After months of navel-gazing in the Labour leadership race, Watson turned his ire on the opposition. He described Theresa May as a Lib Dem manifesto pledge -- 'abandoned' -- as he accused her of 'ducking and diving; humming and hahing' on everything from the Northern powerhouse to the Single Market.

Today Clive Lewis, the shadow Defence Secretary, used his conference speech to say that Labour has a clear policy in favour of renewing Trident and would sign up to the Nato target of spending 2pc on defence. While this is Labour policy, given that Lewis is viewed by many as a fully signed-up Corbynite there had been an expectation that he would take on an anti-Trident stance. Following his comments, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament issued a press release expressing their 'huge disappointment at this U-turn'. Now it's transpired that Lewis had meant to go further. The talk of conference is that Lewis had planned to say he would not try to change party policy on Trident renewal. However, at the last minute, Corbyn's director of comms Seumas Milne took this out without consulting Lewis.

Corbyn’s allies on the hard left are lining up to reform the Labour party. Some make him look like a moderate. Here are the most notable, from the least to the most radical… Owen Jones, 32, is a Guardian columnist and former poster boy for the left. Jones suggested Corbyn could do more to appeal to the masses and, as a result, was one of the regime’s first casualties. Throughout the Labour leadership election, Jones has become increasingly vocal about Corbyn’s limitations as leader. He is now an unperson. James Mills, 32, is head of communications for both John McDonnell and Corbyn’s leadership campaign. Mills is less of a purist than some of his comrades — he previously worked on Ed Balls’s leadership campaign.

On Tuesday, Labour's National Executive Committee met for eight and a half hours as Jeremy Corbyn and Tom Watson tried to steer the party in different directions. Facing the prospect of Corbyn being reinstated as Labour leader indefinitely, Watson attempted to pass a motion for the return of Shadow Cabinet elections. The deputy Labour leader's claim that it would help 'put the band back together' as the party tries to heal wasn't enough to convince the NEC. A motion to decide on the details of the plan ahead of Saturday's leadership result was voted down, with a second motion to ensure a decision is made on Saturday also defeated. However, it wasn't all bad news for the moderates. Corbyn did at least agree to continue discussions on the idea.

Ukip's autumn conference kicks off tomorrow in Bournemouth. With the new leader set to be announced, there had been hopes the two-day event would mark the beginning of a new exciting post-Brexit era for the party. Instead, the party faces questions over whether there should be a second chapter at all. Steve Stanbury, Ukip's former director, has appeared on the Daily Politics today to announce that he has defected to the Tories. In the interview with Jo Coburn, Stanbury said he believed the party's best days were behind it now it has achieved the 'principle objective' of securing -- and winning -- an EU referendum. He says he hopes his Ukip colleagues will follow suit and 'come home' back to the Conservative party.

Today Jeremy Corbyn used PMQs to go on the attack over Theresa May's plan to bring back grammar schools -- a topic many had hoped he would lead on last week. Better late than never, the Labour leader put in his best performance to date as he used all six questions to take the Prime Minister to task over her proposals. Given that Corbyn separated from his ex-wife over her desire to send their son to a grammar, he was in his element as he argued that selection 'can only let children down'. When May replied that she wanted a society with 'opportunity for all', Corbyn snapped back that 'equality of opportunity is not segregating children at age eleven'.

This week the Boundaries Commission has released its proposals for new constituencies in England and Wales. Although this is part of a wider effort to reduce the number of MPs in the Commons from 650 to 600, the Labour party feel as though they are being unfairly picked on. While the plans mean George Osborne and Boris Johnson are among the politicians who would have their seats redrawn, it's the Labour party as a whole that would be worst affected with a potential loss of 25 Labour-held seats. However, this is not the party's only problem when it comes to the proposals. There are concerns that the process could allow Corbyn's supporters to use reselection to purge the party of hostile MPs.