Steerpike

Dogs bark, cows moo and the BBC makes a hash of it. After holding out for a week, the Corporation has today thrown in the towel and issued a belated and grovelling apology to Nigel Farage for misreporting the reason his bank account at Coutts was closed. The Beeb's original report by its Business Editor Simon Jack claimed that the reason for the closure was that Farage’s account had fallen beneath the bank’s wealth limit.  But following last week’s revelation that Farage’s account was shut because he was not ‘compatible with Coutts... as an inclusive organisation’, the BBC has been left with a substantial amount of egg on its face once again.

It's been a difficult time for the gay rights charity Stonewall. Chief Executive Nancy Kelley is due to leave her job next week, after a torturous year that saw the Allison Bailey case and numerous employers withdraw from the charity's 'Diversity Champions' scheme. Iain Anderson, Stonewall's Chair, was probably hoping to put all this behind him when he sat down with Sky's Beth Rigby for an in-depth interview on the charity's work. Unfortunately for Anderson, Rigby raised some of the thorniest issues with regards to trans rights, including elite sports and single-sex spaces. Asked about trans swimmer Lia Thomas beating two biological women on a podium, he replied 'We're working our way through on this' and 'We want everyone to play their full part in society.

You just hate to see it. Less than 12 hours after the Uxbridge result and already the Labour blame game is well underway. The chairman of the local party has quit in disgust, citing Starmer's lack of principles. And now Starmer has decided that the solution to his problems is to, er, throw his party's most senior elected politician in England under the bus. Let's hope it was a carbon-friendly one... Sir Keir told broadcasters this morning that Uxbridge was always going to be a 'tough' seat, arguing that: We didn’t take it in 1997 when we had a landslide Labour victory. And Ulez was the reason we didn’t win there yesterday. We know that. We heard that on the doors. And we’ve all got to reflect on that, including the mayor.

There was a good old ding dong at PMQs today. No, not between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer, but rather between Mark Francois and an absent Tobias Ellwood. The two Tories both sit on the Defence Select Committee, with Ellwood serving as chair. But the Bournemouth MP has horrified his fellow MPs this week by releasing a bizarre video gushing support for the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Such simpery has no truck with Francois, who stood up to aim a double-barrelled blast at his fellow Conservative. 'Can I make plain that this was not in our name?' he told the House. 'And can I have the Prime Minister’s assurance that this naïve and silly act wasn’t in his name either?' Sunak stonewalled but the embarrassment was plain for all to see.

It’s long been the case that trips abroad can allow for a new perspective – to broaden the mind. But Mr S can’t help but think, Tobias Ellwood’s summer jaunt to Afghanistan is taking this to an extreme. The Tory MP and chair of the Defence Select Committee has shared a video on Twitter urging people to ‘hold your breath’... Afghanistan is, he says, now a ‘country transformed’ with ‘security vastly improved, ‘corruption reduced’ and the ‘opium trade ended’. It’s a pity, of course, that the Taliban don’t allow women to wear lipstick, but they do have solar panels. https://twitter.com/Tobias_Ellwood/status/1680974793867415554?s=20 This is a far cry from Ellwood’s previous comments on the issue.

So. Farewell then. Jamie Driscoll. The left-wing North of Tyne mayor – widely described as the 'last Corbynista in power' – has today quit the Labour party with a double-barrelled blast at Keir Starmer. Driscoll was last month barred from the longlist to run in the new expanded north east authority after appearing at an event alongside film maker Ken Loach. And today Driscoll has exacted his revenge by dramatically quitting and firing a departing blast at the Starmer army. In a series of tweets, Driscoll says that if he can raise £25,000 for a campaign by the end of August, he will stand as an independent against Labour’s candidate for north-east mayor. He argues that: The only "whip" should be the people. The North East needs an experienced, independent voice.

Boris Johnson’s post-premiership crusade continues. The former PM has today attacked Nato for being too soft on Ukraine’s accession. The alliance decided earlier this week that any invitation would be handed out only once ‘conditions are met’ (Svitlana Morenets has more here). Johnson writes in his Daily Mail column: No country is in greater need of Nato membership. All the Alliance needed to do was to set out a timetable — not for instant membership; that makes no sense as long as the war is live — but for membership as soon as victory is won. It comes after an interview with CNN earlier this week where Johnson said there was ‘no excuse or reason to continue faffing around’ on whether Ukraine should join Nato.