Steerpike

Rows in Parliament usually occur on the floor of the House of Commons, between opposing members of different sides. But a fresh storm is brewing elsewhere in the chamber, between the journalists who comprise the parliamentary press gallery and the man who occupies the Speakers' Chair. After the grandstanding of the John Bercow era, Lindsay Hoyle was hailed by the lobby as a breath of fresh air when he was elected to the Speakership back in November 2019.  But now two-and-a-half years on, there are signs that all is not well between Hoyle and members of the Fourth Estate. First, there was last month's row over Angela Rayner's legs, which prompted the Speaker to summon the Mail on Sunday's editor to appear before him and explain the newspaper's coverage.

Hurrah! A Scottish Government press release announces, with no small modicum of pride, that it has at last located the mysterious missing documents in the ferries saga. Audit Scotland, the public body which runs the rule over Holyrood’s spending of taxpayers’ money, recently conceded defeat over this matter. It had spent considerable time and effort trying get to the bottom of the SNP’s 2015 decision to buy two ferries from a shipyard owned by a Scottish Government economic advisor — against the advice of its own ferry agency. Seven years on, the initial cost of £97m has ballooned to £250m and neither of the ferries has been completed. The outstanding questions were: who took the decision to award the contracts — and why?

It's Queen's Speech day in parliament today and in traditional style, two lucky government MPs have been chosen to propose and second the Loyal Address to Her Majesty. This involves two backbenchers – one typically older, the other a newly-elected type – delivering a humorous speech ostensibly on the government's legislative agenda but which actually riffs on various issues of the day.  And so it fell to Graham Stuart, a 17-year parliamentary veteran, to kick things off this afternoon with a well-received performance poking fun at Sir Keir Starmer's difficulties over 'Beergate.

There's a new regime in Downing Street: the City Hall gang is taking over. The arrival of Guto Harri as No. 10 director of communications in February brought with it a fresh approach to media. Out went the broadcasting boycotts: in came a less hostile style willing to take more risks – the fruits of which could be seen in Boris Johnson's Good Morning Britain interview with Susanna Reid last week. But despite the arrival of several new special advisers, it seems that Harri's hiring spree is not done yet. For the backroom boys over at CCHQ are seeking a new 'video and film manager' for the party's new base in Leeds. 'High quality videos' are demanded for online and broadcast 'to communicate the Conservative party's corre narrative' and 'create compelling content'.

Uh oh, it looks like things are getting uncomfortable for Keir Starmer. This week the Labour leader was hoping to turn the national conversation towards the cost of living crisis and the poor Tory showing in the local elections. Instead the hapless opposition leader has become embroiled in a ‘beergate’ scandal of his own – after the Labour leader was pictured drinking beer at a campaign event in April 2021, when lockdown restrictions were in place. This week Durham police announced that it was opening an investigation into an alleged lockdown breach at the event – which Starmer has continued to insist was a work event and not a party. It looks like that story could be beginning to unravel though.

Poor Keir Starmer appears to have the reverse Midas touch. When he awoke this morning, Labour was making gains across the country – the capitalist citadels of London were falling, marginals like Southampton were going red and the seemingly inexorable advance of the Tories in the Red Wall had been halted. Yet as sure as night follows day, mere hours after Sir Keir's triumphalist victory photo call, Durham Police announced it would be conducting an investigation into 'Beergate' – dispatching the news like Zeus submitting thunderbolts down from on high.The news that Sir Keir is under investigation somewhat puts pause to Labour's current claims to being the morally virtuous party in British politics.