Sebastian Payne

Jeremy Corbyn’s lack of experience in office makes it hard to predict how he will act as Labour leader. His tens of thousands of supporters are crowing that a new political age will begin on Saturday and are looking forward to a shadow cabinet made of like-minded folk from the hard-left — Diane Abbott, Michael Meacher etc. But the signs so far suggest that Corbyn as Labour leader will operate differently to Corbyn to march leader. Today’s Guardian offers an explanation why. The list of shadow cabinet ministers who would refuse to serve under Corbyn is growing, along with a unease among Labour MPs about a split between its Parliamentary party and grassroots.

If the bookmakers and pollsters are to be believed, there is little doubt that Jeremy Corbyn will be crowned Labour leader on Saturday. Westminster is therefore wondering: what happens next? I’ve written a piece for POLITICO Europe today looking at the personal and policy battles ahead if Corbyn is the new opposition leader. Instead of treating him as a joke, it seems the Tories would take Corbyn seriously and use the bucketloads of research they have built up over the summer to undermine and destroy him. While Conservative HQ and Downing Street are not revealing too much about their plans if Corbyn wins, insiders suggest that their core message of 'Labour hasn't changed' would be continued.

Nigel Farage held another event in Westminster this morning to announce the dates of his ‘Say No – Believe in Britain’ tour, through which he hopes to drum up support for a Brexit. While the venue and message were identical to his press conference in July, the Ukip leader did reveal some details: twelve regional co-ordinators have been chosen, 300 events are planned over the next few months and six million leaflets will be delivered by Christmas. In light of the British Future polling on the toxicity of Ukip’s immigration message, Farage was keen point out he will work with anyone to achieve a Brexit — even Jeremy Corbyn.

George Osborne has given the first official comments today regarding the ongoing migrant crisis. The Chancellor told Sky News he was ‘very distressed’ at the picture on the front pages of today’s newspapers and argued criminal gangs are responsible for the death of the drowned boy: ‘(There is no) person who would not be very shocked by that picture - and I was very distressed when I saw it myself this morning ‑ of that poor boy lying dead on the beach. We know there is not a simple answer to this crisis. What you need to do is first of all tackle Isis and the criminal gangs who killed that boy, you’ve got to make sure the aid keeps coming. We’ve put £1 billion of overseas aid in to help these desperate people.

David Cameron has vowed he will ‘not waver’ in his commitment to free schools and has announced another 500 will open over the next five years — creating 270,000 new school places by 2020. Eighteen new projects have been given the go-ahead today, adding to the existing 252 free schools and the 52 new schools opening this week. As the chart above shows, the government’s target is ambitious. To see the commitment through, two waves of new free schools will be announced every year in March and September. The Prime Minister said the announcement shows that the government is focused on ‘delivering an excellent education and giving parents across the country real choice for their children’.

Who has the best chance of beating Jeremy Corbyn: Andy Burnham or Yvette Cooper? The Burnham and Cooper camps are vying to be the clear ‘Anyone But Corbyn’ candidate, and trying to grab as much of the low-hanging ‘soft’ Corbyn vote as possible before the ballot closes on 10 September. Burnham is most blatant in his adoption of the ABC strategy. For example, in an op-ed for the Independent today, he says ‘I believe it has come down to a straight choice between Jeremy Corbyn and myself’ and outlined five policy areas he will pursue if elected leader to build a ‘bolder, more principled Labour party’. On housing, Burnham said he will oppose the extension of Right to Buy for housing associations.

During the election campaign a cloud hung over Grant Shapps, the then chairman of the Conservative party. In April, he was accused of editing his own Wikipedia profile and those of other politicians by Richard Symonds, a Wikipedia member of staff and Lib Dem activist. Symonds claimed that Shapps 'or someone acting on his behalf' used an anonymous account 'Contribsx' to make edits that appeared to be to Shapps' benefit. But there has been no hard evidence Shapps edited the pages and Symonds has been censured by Wikipedia for his actions. Now, it transpires that Wikipedia may not have been acting neutrally. Coffee House has been passed an email that was sent around the board of Wikimedia UK, the charity responsible for Wikipedia in Britain.

The 2015 Dissolution Peerages have been announced, with many of the names floated in the press over the last few weeks duly being elevated to the House of Lords. The appointment of long-serving politicians such as William Hague, Alistair Darling, Ming Campbell and David Blunkett is not a surprise, but there are a few unexpected names. The most striking is Tessa Jowell, who is running to be Labour's London mayoral candidate. If Jowell wins the nomination, she would end up doing a Boris and serving in City Hall and Westminster.