Steerpike

Oh dear, things are not exactly going well for the Tory party this weekend, with the government now facing potential scandals on two separate fronts. Yesterday, the chairman of the Tory party Nadhim Zahawi was forced to concede that HMRC had found that he had made ‘careless and not deliberate’ errors over his tax affairs when being appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer last year. Meanwhile the Sunday Times reports today that Richard Sharp, the chairman of the BBC, was involved in procuring an £800,000 loan for Boris Johnson, weeks before he was recommended for the role. So you can imagine that James Cleverly was not exactly jubilant about embarking on the Sunday broadcast round this morning, to defend the government’s record.

Ah, the World Economic Forum: that annual jamboree for plutocratic banksters, avaricious industrialists and superannuated spongers to come together in an orgiastic eulogy to global capital. Sir Keir Starmer is among those in Davos this week as part of the party's latest enterprise initiative. For where better place for a Labour leader to demonstrate his progressive credentials? The purpose of such schmoozing is two-fold. It is intended to show Labour as a pro-business party, which has put the bad old days of Comrade Corbyn well behind them and make Starmer seem 'Prime Ministerial' by having him endure the tedium of meeting various satraps, flunkeys and apparatchiks which comprise the Davos elite. But has this initiative backfired?

Lloyd Russell-Moyle is no stranger to controversy. The Labour MP previously said sorry to JK Rowling after accusing her of using her own sexual assault as 'justification' for her views on trans people. Back when Jeremy Corbyn was Labour leader, the Brighton MP said those who quit the party were 'scabs'. This week, Russell-Moyle has been busy in the Commons blasting a Tory MP. The Corbynista MP lashed out against Miriam Cates after she expressed concern that the Scottish gender bill would make it 'vastly easier for a predator to get access to children'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?

It's a busy time for ex-Prime Ministers. Theresa May has been totting up her thousands in speaking fees while Boris Johnson has been unveiling his portrait, trailing his memoir and generally making mischief for Rishi Sunak. And amid much speculation about the future projects of Liz Truss, Mr S can reveal that Britain's shortest-serving PM today formally incorporated her eponymous company for post-premiership life. It is titled simply 'the office of Liz Truss Limited' with the onetime Tory leader and her husband Hugh O'Leary listed as the two directors of the firm. And Truss isn't the only one who has clearly being having a productive time since leaving the office.

Ping! An email pops up in Steerpike's inbox. 'Boris Johnson's memoir acquired by HarperCollins' roars the subject line, heralding the arrival of an effusive press release to mark the exciting news. Not content with earning £250,000 per speech and unveiling portraits of himself, it seems our former PM has decided that the time is now right for his considered reflections on his time in office (read: settle some old scores and make off with the moolah.) In suitably gushing tones, Arabella Pike, the publicity director of the HarperCollins publishing house, promises that: ‘This will be a prime ministerial memoir like no other.

It may be winter but Sir Keir is already sporting flip flops. The Labour leader's appearance on Laura Kuenssberg's show this morning was the best advert for voting Tory seen in recent months, with Starmer unable to give basic answers to simple questions. Having broken most of the ten pledges on which he was elected – and which are still listed on his website – he refused four times to say whether he still stands by his pledge to abolish tuition fees. 'When I was running for leader I made pledges which reflected my values,' he sighed 'since then, we're now three years on, a lot has changed'. By that logic, Starmer's current policy platform, er, doesn't actually reflect his values? Such vacillation was on show again when Kuenssberg pressed Starmer on the tricky topic of trans rights.

Nowadays, MPs' expenses claims are vetted by IPSA to ensure that the spectre of duck houses and flipped mortgages don't darken Westminster once more. But occasionally the odd claim or two gets approved which seems, er, somewhat incongruous: Zarah Sultana's ring light and Angela Rayner's personalised airpods are just two of the more examples. And, perusing the data today, Mr S stumbled across a similarly shocking claim made by the disgraced former MP Imran Ahmad Khan. Six months ago, Steerpike revealed that Ahmad Khan had billed the taxpayer £3,218 for legal costs after being charged with child sexual assault, for which he was subsequently jailed.

Angela Rayner hasn’t always had the best of relationships with Fleet Street’s finest. But there was no sign of discord tonight when she charmed the cream of the parliamentary press gallery at the women’s lobby drinks. The Labour deputy leader remarked how ‘I came in [to parliament] in 2015 when the wheels fell off politics, I had about 18 jobs – I’ve still got about 18 jobs’. She also reflected on the relationship she has with her leader: ‘Keir under-shares, I over-share, always an interesting one to one with me and Keir. We promised each other we wouldn’t disclose what we say in those meetings but we rub along quite nicely’ adding to the inevitable laughs ‘steady on.