Steerpike

In his search for gossip, Mr S has few qualms about perusing other august publications for inspiration. So it was in that spirit that his eye alighted on a story in a recent edition of Private Eye which noted that 'food bank clients in Liverpool' were left 'not impressed' after 90 city councillors recently tucked into a £6,000 buffet at the council's annual general meeting. It brought to mind Steerpike's favourite piece of local journalism of the past decade: a 2013 edition of the Brentwood Weekly News, whose front page had an exasperated-looking Eric Pickles next to the headline ‘I did not spend £10,000 on extra biscuits’.

Londoners have today been cursing the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) trade union for the misery that its 24-hour walkout has inflicted across the capital. The strike is about a dispute with Network Rail and Transport for London (TfL) over pay, jobs and working conditions, with the RMT asking for a pay rise of seven per cent, which is lower than inflation but higher than that offered by employers. It all comes down to the age-old question about how much staff should be paid for a day's work. So it was with serendipitous timing therefore that Mr S received a Freedom of Information reply from TfL today about how much London Underground train operators or instructor operators are currently receiving in compensation.

It seems that Scotland isn't the only thing failed by the SNP. Britain's greatest grievance-merchants are (rightly) being hauled over the coals today for their treatment of Patrick Grady's male victim, after Ian Blackford told a room of MPs last Tuesday that the disgraced sex pest had their 'absolute full support.' One of those who expressed support for Grady was fellow nat Amy Callaghan who is now, apparently, 'truly sorry' after telling the meeting that the SNP should be 'rallying together around' Grady. And all it took was a leaked recording and a public outcry — truly, the definition of contrition. Don't worry though: it's not just men that the SNP are failing.

To Doncaster, home of the horses and the Northern Research Group conference. But there was only one race on the lips of attendees at the Doncaster track today: the leadership race. To the disappointment of the assembled Tory MPs, Boris Johnson pulled out of a scheduled afternoon appearance to visit Kyiv. He was meant to be the star turn at the conference as part of a bid to win back wavering MPs since last week's confidence vote. One disgruntled backbencher told Mr S: 'I'm quite pissed off to be honest. Him coming was the whole point.' Members of the NRG had planned to present the PM with a list of demands to maintain the Tory grip on the Red Wall at the next election. Instead, Michael Gove appeared on Zoom.

Boris Johnson has never been one of nature’s diplomats. Unconventional, irreverent, Brexit-backing and norm-defying, the blonde bombshell’s two-year tenure at the Foreign Office is now remembered as one of the less happy periods of his political life. Still, even cynical veterans of the ambassadorial circuit were left unimpressed with the Prime Minister’s performance at the Trooping the Colour ceremony a fortnight ago. This occasion is treated by overseas plenipotentiaries as the closest thing that the UK has to a national day: the equivalent of Bastille Day in France or the Fourth of July in America – especially so in a Platinum Jubilee year. So the various high commissioners and ambassadors were somewhat disappointed at their treatment on the day itself.

First it was drugs, then it was the press. Now Lindsay Hoyle and the grandees on the House of Commons Commission have turned their guns on the demon drink in a bid to restore parliament's reputation. They are seeking to end the age-old tradition of 'Thirsty Thursdays' in the Palace of Westminster, whereby staff enjoy the freedom of the place while their bosses return to their constituencies for weekend meetings with voters. For now changes have been announced today to restrict the access to Strangers' Bar by the Thames: the favoured watering hole of thirsty MPs who fancy a quick snifter between votes. From tomorrow, the bar will close at 8 p.m on a Thursday before a non-sitting Friday; on the day before a sitting Friday it will now shut at 10 p.m.

There's a spectre haunting Westminster: the spectre of Steve Bray. Steerpike envies those readers unfamiliar with the loud-mouthed protester, who has spent much of the past four years making life miserable for those who work in the House of Commons. Bray, known to many as 'Stop Brexit' man, spends a lot of his time disrupting interviews, shouting at parliament and heckling MPs and their staff. He and his supporters sometimes film the reactions of Tories they berate for social media, with past victims including backbenchers Lee Anderson and Paul Bristow. At least one parliamentary assistant has publicly confronted him in the street. Now though, it seems that Commons bosses have finally had enough.