Steerpike

In an excoriating interview on TalkTV just now, Lord Frost has said he has ‘grave reservations’ about Penny Mordaunt becoming the prime minister. The former Brexit negotiator, who quit Boris Johnson’s cabinet last year, told Julia Hartley-Brewer ‘To be honest, I'm quite surprised she is where she is in this race. She was my deputy – notionally more than really – in the Brexit talks last year’. He went on: I’m sorry to say this, I felt she did not master the detail that was necessary in the negotiations last year, she wouldn’t always deliver tough messages to the European Union when that was necessary and I’m afraid she wasn't fully accountable. She wasn’t always visible, sometimes I didn’t even know where she was.

Has the US president been possessed by an alt right troll? Nope, it’s just Joe being Joe. No sooner had Joe Biden landed in Israel this afternoon than he managed to commit a gaffe so heinous that it's hard to see how his hosts will forgive him. After stepping off Air Force One, Biden said it was vital to 'bear witness' to the Nazi atrocities of World War Two in order to: 'keep alive the truth and honour of the Holocaust'. He promptly corrected himself by saying '…horror of the Holocaust’ but the damage was done. Oh dear. Here's the video: https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1547227449607573505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1547227449607573505?

It seems that George Freeman has got his summer flip-flops in early. The (recently departed) science and innovation minister hasn't had a great few weeks in the Commons recently. First, there was last month's leadership vote in Boris Johnson in which Freeman initially refused to say which way he had voted. This was then followed by last week's rather more successful coup against Johnson in which Freeman submitted a public letter of no confidence in the PM . He did not, however, make clear if he was resigning or not, sparking confusion and derision among bemused colleagues and hacks. Having announced that he had, in fact, resigned, Freeman then took to Twitter to bemoan his loss of office, sharing a series of flattering quotes from academics about his departure.

It's all getting a bit heated in the Tory leadership wars. Fresh from the sweltering heat of the Churchill War Rooms, Steve Baker has marched into the LBC studios with his blood clearly boiling. The 'Brexit hardman' went on Andrew Marr's show tonight and launched a howitzer at fellow Brexiteer Penny Mordaunt. Baker, who is backing Suella Braverman of the European Research Group, was asked to assess Mordaunt's credentials. He replied: I'm sorry Penny but where were you when I needed you? She was supposed to be a Brexiteer. And when I was a bruised, you know, beaten captain in the trenches, Penny was staying in the Cabinet along with others.

Is the leadership race turning toxic already? Three days in and Rishi Sunak has been the target of a vicious private memo while Nadhim Zahawi is fighting off questions about his tax arrangements. Now it seems that Penny Mordaunt is the latest candidate in the firing line; namely over her past support for trans rights. The 'PM4PM' campaign has got off to a shaky start, having been forced to remove its campaign video after using footage of a British Paralympian without his permission. And now, despite releasing a midnight Twitter thread to try to rebut criticisms that Mordaunt is 'woke', Penny is facing flak from the Tory right. Mordaunt has claimed that it was she who 'changed maternity legislation that was drafted in gender neutral language to use female terms.

Oh dear. It seems that Britain's favourite kimono-wearing, fox-murdering, bat-wielding loudmouth lawyer has done it again. The Conservative party is shaping up for a leadership contest between the most diverse range of candidates ever, including five MPs from ethnic minority backgrounds (Suella Braverman, Kemi Badenoch, Rishi Sunak, Nadhim Zahawi and Sajid Javid). There are also four women (Braverman, Badenoch, Liz Truss and Penny Mordaunt) –  more than the prospective number of straight white men (Tom Tugendhat, Ben Wallace and Jeremy Hunt). But that's not enough for Jolyon Maugham, the right-on Remainiac best known for losing cases and killing foxes.

Boris’s decision to quit yesterday fired the starting gun on the greatest game of them all: the Tory leadership race. Suella Braverman was first out the blocks on Thursday night before, er, Johnson had even gone. But it’s the launch of the second official candidate, Tom Tugendhat, which has attracted more interest. In traditional Tory style he began his campaign with an article in the Telegraph, emphasising his own personal values and the need to tackle Britain's economic problems – a conscious effort to broaden his appeal beyond being pigeonholed as solely interested in matters of defence and foreign policy.

It's been a tumultuous day in Westminster. Boris Johnson has (finally) resigned as Prime Minister after losing more than 50 members of his own government. So what better way to mourn or celebrate the fall of the Tory premier than over a glass of Pol Roger in the garden of The Spectator's offices in Westminster? Mr S was on hand to hear the plots and gossip as the great and the (not so) good gathered to mark the resignation of one of Britain's most divisive leaders...

As the news rolled in that Michael Gove had been sacked by Boris Johnson, our own Douglas Murray was on Piers Morgan’s show on TalkTV alongside former spin doctor Alastair Campbell.