Steerpike

Sue Gray did break the Civil Service code, according to a Cabinet Office investigation released by the government. The Partygate prober-in-chief has today been found to have breached the guidelines which she did so much to uphold during her six years as head of the government's, er, Proprietary and Ethics team. Gray began negotiations with Labour in October of last year and thus violated the rules whereby individuals must declare all relevant outside interests to their line manager as soon as they arise. Government advice states that individuals 'should err on the side of caution when considering what to declare but the onus is on the individual to consider what might be relevant and declare it.

It seems that Zac Goldsmith's decade-long dance with government is over. The Old Etonian today handed his notice after four years as a minister, accusing Rishi Sunak of being 'simply uninterested' in environmental issues. It (for now) ends a 13-year career in Tory politics which saw him elected MP for Richmond thrice, lose said seat twice and mount an ill-fated mayoral bid only once. Below is Steerpike's guide to some of the worst episodes of Zac Goldsmith's political career... Rule troubles Throughout his on-off decade in the House of Commons, Goldsmith continued to get tangled up in spending rules.

Life appears pretty good for Nigel Farage right now. Winning awards for his TV show, enjoying the adoration of fans and scorning the opprobrium of Remainers everywhere. But it appears the reality isn't so rosy for the former Ukip leader. Farage has taken to Twitter today to claim that 'the establishment are trying to force me out of the UK by closing my bank accounts.' In a lengthy six-minute statement, he says that his current bank account is being closed, despite no reason being given. He has since tried to open a new account at seven rival financial institutions but to no avail: I have been with the same banking group since 1980. I’ve had my personal accounts with them since that date, and my business accounts right through the 1990s want to work in the City of London.

It's been a difficult few years for Paul Bew, chairman of the House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC). Bew picked up his own peerage in 2007, but since being appointed chair of Holac in 2018, he has been busy fighting off the claims of others put forward for a peerage. There was the Lord Lebedev farrago back in 2020 and more recently the row over Boris Johnson's resignation honours' list. The names who got on to the latter list caused enough of a scandal: one wonders who didn't make it that far. For Mr S has now obtained a Freedom of Information response from Holac which shows that almost one in ten names put forward to the agency between 2019 to 2023 did not make the cut.

The questions aren't going away for Tory mayoral candidate Daniel Korski. The self-proclaimed tech entrepreneur is having a tough time answering questions about claims that he grabbed the breast of a woman when he was working in No. 10 under David Cameron. In a bid to clear the air, Korski – who denies the allegation – has today done an interview with TalkTV. The former war reporter claims that: I didn't do what's been alleged. I absolutely didn't do that. Ten years ago, when it happened, nothing was said to me. Seven years ago, when this first came out, nobody alleged anything to me. I just didn't do what's being alleged...

Drama tonight at the latest hustings for the Tory mayoral candidate. The Conservative Environment Network were putting the final three candidates through their paces when a story from the Times broke accusing Daniel Korski – one of the favourites in the contest – of sexual misconduct. Daisy Goodwin, the former head of a TV production company, claimed that Korski groped her during his time working in No. 10 under David Cameron. A spokesman for Korski said: ‘In the strongest possible terms, Dan categorically denies any allegation of inappropriate behaviour whatsoever.’ One eyewitness at tonight's event told Mr S that ‘everyone was looking at their phones’ before an aide beckoned Korski over and he abruptly left the event.

Another day brings with it another difficult morning with Rishi Sunak. With Labour's lead now stretching to 18 points, the Prime Minister did a tetchy interview with Laura Kuenssberg saw the pair clash over inflation and mortgages. And Sunak will no doubt be delighted to know that the person whose reaction which Kuenssberg sought straight after the interview was none other than longtime Labour supporter and donor Ben Elton. He was sat in Kuenssberg's studio and let rip on the Prime Minister when the BBC presenter asked him for his thoughts on her interview: It's not so much depressed sad, I mean, if anybody was still watching after that, extraordinary Orwellian, meaningless, evasive word salad.

Ah, the perils of hosting an international jamboree. You know what it's like: you stump up for the hotel rooms, roll out the red carpet, shake hands with an assortment of autocrats, only for your own unappreciative electorate to let you down once again. Such misfortune befell Emmanuel Macron this week, when he invited the leaders of the Global South to Paris to hobnob, ching-wag and pontificate on debt relief and climate change. The Republic's young sons and daughters expressed their dislike of the incumbent President at a concert on Thursday night, held to mark the grandly-named 'Summit for a New Global Financial Pact'.

You might have thought that the National had successfully cornered the fiction market among SNP devotees. But now Mr S has discovered the existence of another pro-independence media outlet keen to shake up Scotland’s media landscape. ‘Skotia’ claims it will divert from the ‘obsessive hysteria of Scotland’s political class’ by making ‘life difficult for the architects of Scotland’s political consensus’ and maintaining a ‘constant vigilance on those who sow hate and inhumanity’. Noble stuff. Its launch video features the outlet’s new editor, Coll McCail, an earnest redhead, who proclaims: While the British state looks out for its own, the Scottish establishment is too comfortable.