Steerpike

'Hasta la vista, baby' Boris Johnson told the Commons at his final PMQs. But could the fallen leader be seeking inspiration from another Schwarzenegger quote: 'I'll be back'? There's been much excited talk in recent days about whether Johnson could ever make a comeback, with some supporters fearing that the Privileges Committee investigation is an attempt to force him to resign his Uxbridge seat and prevent this from ever happening. And now a few of Johnson's allies have announced they are not going to accept his defenestration lightly. Lord Cruddas, ennobled by the Prime Minister, and David Campbell-Bannerman, a former Conservative MEP, are trying to organise a grassroots revolt.

Most Tories are focusing on the leadership race but for some there are other concerns. Take the five MPs who last year were sanctioned by the Chinese state. Tom Tugendhat, Neil O’Brien, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Nusrat Ghani and Tim Loughton were among a group of nine UK citizens to face sanctions in March for raising awareness of China’s human rights abuses against Ughur Muslim. Having banned this group from entering China, there are fears that Beijing will now try to seek revenge on them through other means too. One possible mechanism is by the exploitation of Interpol, the global police agency now feared to be acting in Chinese state interests.

With two years to go until the next election, constituency battles are well underway across the country. Labour candidates are scrapping it out with one another for selection in winnable seats, with one such case being Chingford and Woodford Green. This London seat was just 1,263 votes off going red last time, with the added bonus of a prized scalp of in Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the sitting MP and former Tory party leader. Faiza Shaheen, who fought the seat for Labour last time, is desperate once again to get selected in this area. But Mr S hears talk that some local members are unhappy about her lack of presence in north London – something of particular concern in an era when hyper-local candidates are favoured.

Oh dear. It seems that the Mordaunt camp has done it again. Just hours after suggesting that Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss would 'murder' the Tory party if they were elected, another suspect #PM4PM tweet has been doing the rounds. It's about the Trade minister's ability to win a general election, citing a YouGov poll of 18-19 July of Tory party members. Team Mordaunt has released a graphic which shows Penny on 28 points compared to Sunak and Truss on 17 and 15 respectively. Separately, screenshots of a document are also being shared among MPs by Mordaunt's supporters, again referring to the YouGov poll labelled 18-19 July. Unfortunately, that poll was actually conducted between 12-13 July, as YouGov's findings show here.

Oh dear. It seems that not all Tory MPs got the memo about last night's no-confidence vote. Tobias Ellwood, a longtime Johnson critic, skipped out on the vote - despite a three-line whip for all Conservatives to stay and support the government. The opposition parties ended up losing by 349 votes to 238 but Tory whips aren't happy with the Defence Select Committee chairman. Ellwood was on a trip abroad to Moldova on committee business, a decision he made despite being warned of the consequences last Wednesday, according to Tory party sources. One told Henry Zeffman of the Times: 'Other Conservative MPs cancelled foreign trips, left poorly relatives and one MP’s mother died on the morning of the vote and still attended and voted.

It's not just the Tory party that's in a bit of a mess. Fresh off the back of Partygate – and Sue Gray's findings about the disrespect shown towards Downing Street's cleaning staff – Mr S wondered just how our elected (and unelected) masters over in the Houses of Parliament have been treating their underlings. And after a two month long Freedom of Information request battle, Steerpike can bring his readers the findings. It seems that the poor men and women toiling in the toilets and turrets of the Palace of Westminster have a pretty difficult job to do. For the cleaning logs detail a number of disturbing incidents in the past 15 months.

The bookies' favourite to win the Tory leadership race, Penny Mordaunt, has had a difficult few days. She’s facing questions not just about her views on trans rights, but about how honest she is about them. Suella Braverman has come pretty close to saying that, like Boris Johnson, Mordaunt has a habit of rewriting history to a version that suits her better and she does not offer the candour straight-talking needed after the Chris Pincher debacle. ‘Smears’, says Penny. She is the candidate of candour and straight-talking. But Mr S has obtained a recording of a speech Mordaunt gave to LGBT+ Tory activists in June 2018, in which she did seem to suggest that it was her strategy not to be straight about what she was doing.

As the reputation of Westminster sinks ever lower and our elected masters seem able to do even less, candidates for political office seek outside areas by which they can bolster their credentials. Once it might have been the Church: now it's often business. But one evergreen way of commanding instant respect in Tory circles is a connection, however tenuous, with the Armed Forces. Unsurprisingly therefore, those leadership candidates with such a connection have been doing their upmost to mention their service at every available opportunity. Take Tom Tugendhat, the man who's quipped that his 'biggest weakness' is 'talking about the army too much.' He proudly sported the tie of his former regiment, the Special Boat Service, last night in the Channel 4 debate.