Steerpike

‘The Civil Service must be a magnet for the best and brightest,’ writes cabinet secretary Antonia Romeo on the civil service website. But Mr S has been wondering if the stats stand up to the slogan... It turns out that 70 per cent of those applying to the civil service summer internship programme in 2026 were barred because they were deemed to be in the wrong social class. That amounted to 4,148 young people. Those whose parents were in ‘higher managerial, administrative and professional occupations’ or ‘intermediate occupations’ when the applicant was aged 14, along with those who did not provide parental occupation information, were automatically rejected from the scheme.

Oh dear. It seems that the Home Office has got it wrong again. Back in August, there was an outcry after officials published guidance for asylum seekers telling them, er, not to rape or sexually harass people – including partners and children. Nice! The nine-page document told new arrivals – including those charming chaps landing on our shores – that women are allowed to 'earn their own money' and 'make their own decisions about their lives'. A novelty for some of them, eh? Now Mr S has done some digging and uncovered the cost of the hastily-disowned document.

It has been mere hours since Andy Burnham gave the go-ahead to Jackdaw, and Labour backbenchers are already throwing a tantrum. Eighteen have publicly condemned the decision so far, with many more agreeing in private. In a letter to Miatta Fahnbullah, sent last night before the announcement, Labour MPs moaned: We must resist shortsighted calls to abandon progress towards net zero, which would accelerate the destruction of our natural world while doing nothing to bring down bills. The choice between tackling climate change and making life more affordable is a false one, often promoted by interests aligned with the oil and gas lobby. Rosebank and Jackdaw would lock us into a costly model of energy supply without delivering the economic benefits its proponents claim.

The Jonathan Powell–Palestine Action debacle continued to cause the government painstaking awkwardness today – this time in the House of Lords. Last night, Sarah Helm, Powell’s terror group-sympathising wife, confirmed on X that the National Security Adviser had no involvement in the proscription of Palestine Action. Mr S finds it rather peculiar that, while the pro-Gaza author apparently knows whether her husband was involved in discussions about banning a terror group – discussions that could also be described as national security matters – senior politicians and the public are not privy to the same information. Lord Callanan, feeling quite the same confusion, sought clarification in the House of Lords chamber.

Cabinet minister Chris Bryant threw a petulant strop on the airwaves this morning after the BBC dared to ask him about the NEETs crisis. The Northern Ireland Secretary dialled in to the Today programme, where presenter Jonny Dymond spent eight minutes discussing Labour’s Northern Ireland Troubles Bill. The legislation, eviscerated by veterans’ groups, ends the Tories’ immunity from prosecution for suspects linked to Troubles-era killings who cooperate with an information recovery body. After that lengthy discussion, Dymond turned to welfare reform. Bryant could barely wait for the question before launching into a sulk about the temerity of a presenter asking a cabinet minister about one of the day’s most pressing political issues.

Oh dear. There is plenty to worry about when it comes to Britain’s national security: depleted armed forces, inadequate defence investment and the state of Downing Street’s own National Security Adviser. Jonathan Powell is, of course, a key architect of the treacherous Chagos surrender deal. But his enthusiasm to cede sovereign territory and pay for the pleasure is not the only cause for concern. His wife now appears to have potentially expressed support for a proscribed terrorist organisation. Responding to the Sally Rooney book saga yesterday, author Sarah Helm posted on X: God help us authors who support Palestine and Palestine Action.

The Andy Burnham–Manchester City saga continues today, with the Prime Minister ordering a ‘manual trawl’ to uncover any more mysteriously missing meetings. They just keep on coming… Asked about the statement claiming Burnham had only held one ‘significant’ meeting with higher-ups at the embattled Premier League club, the Prime Minister scrambled to explain: ‘It was not prepared by me. That was a statement issued by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. So it was comprehensive and I’ve asked them to do a more manual trawl of everything. Cause I want everything possible to be out there. There’s no question about that. Full transparency.

Dear oh dear. Andy Burnham’s claim that he met senior Manchester City figures on just one ‘significant’ occasion is unravelling at lightning speed. Indeed, Mr S can now count four occasions on which the then-Manchester mayor rubbed shoulders with higher-ups at the club, which has now been found guilty of 100 Premier League rule breaches. So much for transparency… As first revealed by The Sun, a deleted register of interests shows that Burnham enjoyed hospitality from club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak on two occasions while serving as mayor. And today The Times found he also met chief executive Ferran Soriano and former chief operating officer Roel de Vries in 2023 and 2025 respectively.

Desperate Sir Ed Davey will plead with his party not to launch a coup against him at a showdown meeting in Westminster this evening. A whopping four hours have been carved out for MPs to air their grievances over the party’s failure to cut through with the public – and for Davey to convince his fellow wets why they should stick by him and his juvenile stunts. So far, more than 40 MPs have requested to speak, with Roz Savage, who oversees the parliamentary party, set to chair the gathering. Ahead of the showdown, Davey told MPs: I’ve cleared the rest of my evening so we can go on as long as it takes for everyone to have their say. Sources close to Sir Ed insist he is in listening mode and that the majority of the party remains behind him.

Civil servants never cease to amaze with just how lazy and entitled they can be. Not content with switching on their laptops for a few hours a day from the comfort of their sofas, they are now threatening to strike unless they are gifted a four-day week and a 10 per cent pay hike. You couldn’t make it up… The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union will hold a strike ballot on 20 October, with demands also including greater protection for working from home, more annual leave and the ‘right to switch off’. At least half of PCS members must vote, with a majority backing industrial action, for the ballot to pass. Of course, this isn’t the first time Westminster’s laziest ‘workers’ have demanded a four-day week.

Oh dear. It is polling day in Holborn and St Pancras and the Greens are staring down the face of defeat. Zack Polanski has put his leadership on the line by standing here but it looks as if Andy Burnham has rallied the Labour faithful back to his cause. With Polanski suffering a summer of bad headlines and embarrassing revelations, some whisper quietly whether defenestration might now be on the cards. Rattled! The (self-identifying) man likely to replace Zack is his charming deputy Mothin Ali. As Steerpike's colleague Noa Hoffman has noted, there is a fair bit of bad blood between allies of the Jewish leader and his Muslim number two.

Robert Jenrick is back out on the mean streets of London, taking shoplifters to task while the Met appears nowhere to be seen. In a new video, Reform’s Treasury spokesman confronts a thief in Brixton as he brazenly swipes a bottle of Dr Pepper from Greggs. Challenging him, Jenrick demands to know why he thinks he can ‘take things when everyone else is paying’. The shoplifter tells the Reform MP to ‘relax’ before insisting that stores ‘say yes’ to goods being stolen. Jenrick hits back: ‘Everyone loves shoplifting don't they now. The effect of what you're doing is everyone else's food and drink just goes up in price - do you think other people can afford that round here?