Steerpike

Oh dear. It is a day ending in 'y' – so of course another Labour backbencher is going to the stake for a mad cause. Mr S has had plenty of fun in recent months covering the antics of Samantha 'the nibbler' Niblett, the Derbyshire dilettante whose calls for a 'summer of sex' were quickly lampooned as a Karma Sutra kamikaze mission. But now, it seems, one of Niblett's colleagues is not content to let her have all the fun when it comes to policing Britons' sexual norms... Step forward Jessica Asato, the usually-sensible Member for Lowestoft. The new MP has taken it upon herself to defend the government's new restrictions on pornography.

Only 18 per cent of respondents to the Home Office’s migration consultation were British citizens, new transparency documents reveal. Among those who gave their views on changes to Indefinite Leave to Remain, a whopping 73 per cent were current visa holders. The consultation also drew a strikingly high proportion of ethnic minority respondents. Some 51 per cent identified as Asian or British Asian, while 19 per cent identified as White. A further 12 per cent were Black or Black British, and three per cent identified as mixed or multiple ethnic groups. Tory MP Jack Rankin blasted the figures: ‘Only 18 per cent of respondents to the gov ILR consultation are British citizens. Are we being governed via polling visa holders? Not sensible.

Alastair Campbell is on a book tour promoting his new work Persevilience, which Mr S has not read but hears is, erm, not exactly the best book to ever be published. Last night, Campbell was on Question Time – along with Reform’s Zia Yusuf, the Lib Dems’ Daisy Cooper, the Tories’ James Cartlidge and Labour’s Emma Reynolds – hoping, one presumes, to shift a few copies. The appearance didn’t go brilliantly. After Campbell went after Yusuf for spreading ‘a pack of lies’ about the benefits of Brexit, Reform’s man thought the old spinner could do with a brief reminder of his own esteemed past. ‘Alastair Cambell is calling other people liars, saying they don’t apologise and take accountability,’ said Yusuf.

As a keen student of economics, Mr Steerpike has been hungrily devouring Liz Truss's new book, Bank Job: A short book on how the Bank of England broke the Bond Market and brought down the government. The prose is admirably clear and well structured considering its provenance. After consulting with the Artificial Intelligence detector tool Pangram, Mr Steerpike has thoughts about why this might be... Have a look at this section of Truss's book (if you dare): The rescue should have produced a visible renaissance if the diagnosis had been right. It produced Sunak, then Starmer and Burnham — and a continuation of the same low-growth groove with different sermons.

‘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.