Steerpike

Penny Mordaunt has had a good start to the leadership race, storming into second place with 16 names, even though she is yet to declare. But is the Portsmouth MP worried about her past views coming back to haunt her? Mr S was surprised to see Mordaunt fire off a late-night ten-part Twitter thread shortly after midnight, in which the Royal Navy reservist tried desperately to prove that she really isn't woke. Having complained that she wants to talk about 'how we get our economy growing', Mordaunt then shared a graphic captioned 'Do I know what a woman is?' Taking a sideswipe at the Times for using an image of her on a gameshow, the trade minister declared that 'Some people born male and who have been through the gender recognition process are also legally female.

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.

You know it's bad when the Old Etonians are turning on you. After the Cabinet departures of Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid and, er, whatever the hell Andrew Murrison was trying to do with his blurry letter of resignation, Bim Afolami has become the fourth Tory MP to quit the official payroll tonight. Afolami opted to do it on TalkTV, the newly-launched broadcasting channel which has struggled to retain its viewers. As one wag quipped to Mr S: 'He actually resigned three hours ago but no one noticed.' Pressed by host Tom Newton Dunn, Afolami said that while he had not sent a formal note of his intent to the Prime Minister, he felt he could no longer serve under Johnson as 'you have to resign'. He added 'it has become clear' that 'the time has come for him to stand down.

Boris Johnson seems to be in enough bother without his opponents making unsubstantiated claims against him. But that’s exactly what Diane Abbott, the sexagenarian Stoke Newington MP, did yesterday when she appeared on yesterday’s episode of Broadcasting House, the BBC news review show. Abbott – who was ostensibly there to discuss allegations surrounding Chris Pincher – decided, er, to spout some of her own. The former shadow home secretary made claims instead about Boris Johnson when she was asked if a man sexually assaulting a woman would have been treated differently from Pincher allegedly groping two men. She replied that: 'It might be treated differently. But that's because Boris Johnson has been rumoured to be the one who likes assaulting women.

Oh dear. It seems that gabby Guto Harri has done it again. The revelations about Chris Pincher have put the No. 10 comms chief and his colleagues in No. 10 on the back foot –  not least because the Tamworth MP's promotion to deputy chief whip in February came just days after Harri's own appointment. Still, the Welsh wizard hasn't exactly responded well to reports about's Pincher's alleged drunken behaviour. First, Harri told a meeting on Friday morning that colleagues should support Pincher because he had lost his career: remarks which quickly leaked and triggered an avalanche of fury on Twitter. Later, in a wider meeting of ministerial aides – the infamous Friday night meeting of special advisors – Harri then sought to clarify these remarks.

Just what is up with Ben Wallace? The Defence Secretary is widely thought to have had a 'good war' in Ukraine, receiving much praise within parliament and outside it for the way he's handled Britain's response. Yet Mr S can't help but wonder about some of the Lancashire MP's recent rhetoric. Just this week he publicly claimed that Vladimir Putin is a 'lunatic' suffering from 'small man syndrome': hardly diplomatic, given Britain's stated position is explicitly not regime change in Russia. In April of course he also said it would be 'legitimate under international law' for Ukraine to hit logistics targets in Russia, even though this would, er, significantly escalate the conflict.