Steerpike

It seems the wokest paper in all the west has blundered once again. Last Wednesday the Guardian published a leader column on 'Labour and antisemitism' in which the bastion of right-on liberalism opined on the party's record under Jeremy Corbyn. It opined that: Mr Corbyn has a formidable record fighting against racism and in speaking up for many persecuted peoples, but in this case he was too slow and too defensive. To show how much better he was than some of his critics allowed, he should have tried harder to engage with their criticisms. But it seems that not all of the Graun's readers share their paper's view of the Magic Grandpa's reign of error.

It seems that Kate Forbes' stance on same-sex marriage hasn't gone down too well with some of her more socially liberal backers. Within 24 hours of announcing her candidacy, the Finance Secretary's campaign has actually gone backwards, managing to lose four MSPs following an interview in which she said that she would not have supported gay marriage as a ‘matter of conscience.’  That was enough for some of her SNP colleagues at Holyrood. One by one they trooped out on Twitter to deliver their lines of condemnation: Richard Lochhead MSP – 'I welcomed my colleague Kate Forbes’ decision to join the SNP leadership contest given her talents & felt it would give us a real contest: new ideas and a new approach that we desperately need.

It's less than 24 hours since the SNP leadership election became a three horse race but already there seems to be a disproportionate focus on LGBT issues. Ash Regan was out of the blocks first, saying she would dump Nicola Sturgeon's Gender Recognition Reform Bill if she replaced her as First Minister. Then this afternoon Kate Forbes, a staunch member of the Free Church, threw her weight behind Regan's stance and added that she would not have supported same-sex marriage had she been an MSP at the time it was debated in the Scottish parliament. And now tonight Humza Yousaf has hit back at Forbes with a barely-concealed jibe at his rival on LBC's Andrew Marr Show saying: I’m a supporter of equal marriage. Let me get to the crux of the issue that you’re asking me. I’m a Muslim.

It seems that Boris Johnson's interventions in the Sunday papers haven’t gone down too well with some members of his party. Tory grandee George Osborne appeared on the Andrew Neil Show on Channel 4 today to issue a scathing rejoinder to his longtime rival. The former chancellor questioned the sincerity of Johnson's commitment to Northern Ireland by pointing out that Rishi Sunak merely inherited the 'mess' of the contentious Protocol. He also noted how Johnson has acquired, er, something of a reputation for disloyalty, having agitated against multiple Prime Ministers before for personal gain: I think Rishi Sunak should be applauded for trying to solve this mess from the past that he's inherited.

It's the issue vexing millions of voters. Forget war, pestilence, famine – it seems the real horror facing the good people of Wales is... meal deals. Yes, that's right: those fiscally prudent prandial packages are the real scourge bedevilling the Land of My Fathers. For the Welsh government in its infinite wisdom is mulling a ban on multi-buy offers as part of its latest anti-obesity drive. Clearly the cost of living crisis that Labour keeps banging on about in England doesn't apply across the border... The bans being considered by the satraps in the Senedd include temporary price reductions, multi-buy offers, and meal deals, according to a consultation document seen by the BBC.

If we hadn’t heard enough about ‘the Dumb Prince and His Stupid Wife’ – not Steerpike’s words – now South Park has dedicated an entire episode to mocking them and their faux pleas for privacy. Throughout the 20-minute episode, the long-running animated comedy’s writers really stuck the sword into Harry and Meghan, who have found themselves the butt of many jokes after their Netflix documentary and Harry’s moany memoir Spare. Just last week at the Grammys, host Trevor Noah said that James Corden was ‘living proof that a man can move from London to LA and not tell everyone about his frostbitten penis’. But in true South Park style – flapping heads, small black eyes and ludicrously over-the-top Canuck accents, eh?

Where there’s death, there’s life. And the departure of Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister after eight years means there’s a vacancy as top dog in the Scottish parliament. Who could replace her? One Panelbase poll conducted last week shows there’s an overwhelming favourite among the various pretenders: ‘don’t know’ took a whopping 69 per cent of the public vote. Fortunately for the SNP, some of their actual elected politicians scored favourably too – though none more than seven per cent. Below is Steerpike’s guide to the most likely runners and riders to succeed Scotland’s nationalist-in-chief, with odds from Ladbrokes. Angus Robertson - 6/5 The bookies’ favourite and a familiar face to Westminster watchers.

Labour has been talking a lot about taxpayers' money in recent days, following the release of their much-hyped 'GPC files' about government procurement cards. There's been much criticism about the use of luxury hotels, fine art and branded merchandise. All good, worthy stuff. But in the interest of balance, Mr S thinks it's worth reminding readers that Labour's leading lights haven't always been the most prudent when it comes to spending taxpayers' money. Steerpike has already highlighted Angela Rayner's decision to put £249 branded Airpods on her parliamentary expenses. And Sir Keir Starmer is not exempt from criticism either. Back when he was Director of Public Prosecutions, he came under fire for claiming more than £250 a day in expenses for a chauffeur driven car.

Stop press: Fleet Street is officially full of sewage. Flicking through the papers this morning, Steerpike was intrigued to see water pollution feature prominently on the front page of both the Times and the i newspapers. 'Water firms to be spared threat of £250m fines' roared the former; 'Sunak facing Tory rebellion over sewage in UK rivers' retorted the latter. Both are worthy stories but neither were splashed across any of the other national newspapers. What's going on? It turns on that the i are keen on the story because on Friday they proudly launched their new campaign to 'Save Britain's Rivers.' It is a new UK-wide drive to rescue the country’s polluted waterways, champion a manifesto for our rivers and features Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey as a prominent spokesman.