Steerpike

Just when you thought Putin’s regime couldn’t sink any lower, it somehow manages to. Like something out of George Orwell’s 1984, the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov declared that, actually, the Kremlin’s bloody war in Ukraine had had a ‘positive impact on life inside [Russia]’. Speaking at a foreign ministry press conference, Lavrov said this was because Putin’s ‘special military operation’ had united the country and ‘enabled it to be cleansed of all those who felt no sense of belonging to Russian history or culture’ after thousands moved abroad in opposition to the war.

You know your brand is struggling when even the boss wants to ditch it. For it seems that hapless Humza Yousaf has 'done a Ratner' today by distancing himself from the increasingly-toxic SNP brand. With his party set to lose half their seats to Labour, the flailing First Minister has decided that now is the right time to freely confess that he has 'never really been comfortable' with the Scottish National Party’s name. In an interview with the BBC's Nick Robinson on his Political Thinking podcast, Yousaf admitted that he did not like the connotations of the word 'nationalist', suggesting that the 'national' in the SNP’s name could be 'misinterpreted'. Gosh, how could that ever happen to such a tolerant, inclusive movement?

Tory MP Lee Anderson's name was a curious omission from the list of rebels who voted against Rishi Sunak's Rwanda Bill. Anderson's absence was surprising given that this week he resigned as deputy chair of the Conservative party over the legislation to 'stop the boats'. 'I don’t think I could carry on in my role when I fundamentally disagree with the bill. I can’t be in a position to vote for something I don’t believe in,' Anderson said on Tuesday. But last night, having walked into the 'No' lobby to vote against the Bill, the Red Wall MP changed his mind – and decided to abstain. Why? Because, he said, 'the Labour lot were all giggling and laughing and taking the mick'.

A feisty edition of PMQs today, following the drama in the House yesterday evening. As predicted, Sir Keir Starmer opted to lead on Tory disunity over the Rwanda plan. He likened the Conservatives to 'hundreds of bald men scrapping over a single broken comb' before turning to reports that Rishi Sunak wanted to scrap the scheme when he was Chancellor. 'Doesn’t he wish he’d had the courage to stick to his guns?' he jibed. But Sunak hit back strongly, raising Sir Keir's legal record and work defending the extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir which was banned by James Cleverly on Monday. Mr Speaker, it is rich to hear from the Honourable Gentleman about belief in something.

When he's not grovelling to the House for his latest error, there's nothing that Chris Bryant likes more than a bit of Tory-bashing. Whether it's popping up in parliament or firing off posts on his ever-active Twitter account, few Members bill themselves as being better at holding ministers' feet to the fire than our Sir Chris. Lately, the chosen choice of weapon for the Rhondda rabble-rouser is the time-honoured favourite of the written question. Bryant marked the new year by firing off one such inquiry to the Cabinet Office, the ministry known as the 'thinking brain' of government. His query concerned the status of one Dominic Cummings, back in the spotlight after his Sunday Times interview in which he disclosed details of private talks with Rishi Sunak.

Immigration minister Michael Tomlinson is a KC so is good at thinking on his feet – or so you might expect. But this morning the Tory MP was caught out when it came to what should have been a straightforward question: what does he watch on TV? 'I watch very little,' Tomlinson told Sky News's Kay Burley, when asked whether he has seen the hit ITV drama Mr Bates vs. the Post Office. 'I'm not sure I can tell you the last box set I watched, but I do enjoy watching sport so if you want to ask me about cricket and sport, then please do.' Absolute CAR CRASH interview with immigration minister Tomlinson (more of it in a bit), ends with this perfect gem: Burley having established he hadn't watched the ITV drama on #PostOfficeScandal asks him what he does watch.

This is Sir Ed Davey's worst week in politics since last week – and it's still only Monday. The Liberal Democrat leader is enduring a torrid time at present, amid continuing questions about his handling of the Horizon scandal when he was the postal affairs minister. This morning, the Daily Mail went heavy on profiling the ex-deputy postmistress who is seeking to unseat him in Kingston-upon-Thames at the next general election. Then just before lunch the Evening Standard dropped with a front-page splash that dubbed him 'Sir Hypocrite' – some nice night-time reading for Sir Ed's London constituents perhaps. And now, this afternoon, the usual respectful silence which greets Davey's appearances in the Commons chamber was replaced by jeers and heckles on both sides of the House.

A new year has seen the resumption of Westminster’s favourite parlour game: endless Tory infighting over the Rwanda Bill. But ahead of Rishi Sunak’s flagship legislation to ‘stop the boats’ returning to the Commons tomorrow, some Tory MPs spent the weekend arguing over a similarly thorny issue: where to house the 50,000-odd asylum seekers who have arrived in the UK already. Unsurprisingly, with a tough election ahead of them, few Tories are keen on taking hundreds of migrants into their patch. The main WhatsApp group for Conservative MPs duly ignited on Sunday as various MPs made the case for why it should not be them.

It's blue Monday today for Tory MPs as they read the findings of the Daily Telegraph's mammoth new poll. The paper splashes today on a YouGov survey of 14,000 people – the biggest such poll since the 2019 election. It points to the Conservatives suffering an electoral wipeout on the scale of their 1997 defeat by Labour. It forecasts that the Tories will retain just 169 seats, while Labour will sweep to power with 385 – giving Sir Keir Starmer a 120-seat majority. Every Red Wall seat won from Labour by Boris Johnson in 2019 will be lost, the poll indicates, and the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, will be one of 11 cabinet ministers to lose their seats. By comparison, 'just' seven cabinet members lost their seat in 1997 when there was the infamous 'Portillo moment.