Steerpike

The economy may be tanking and Boris in peril but MPs were grateful this week for a four day respite to mark the Queen’s platinum jubilee. Many chose to flee Westminster for home pastures elsewhere: Brandon Lewis got to press the flesh at Hillsborough Castle while his backbench colleague Laura Farris snapped pics in Newbury with a Churchill impersonator. But a fair few decided to remain in London to pay tribute to our long-suffering monarch at the Trooping of the Colour on Horseguard’s Parade. Somehow Mr S blagged a ticket - they let anyone in these days - and enjoyed the chance to see our elected Tory masters pay tribute to our unelected ones.

It's Jubilee week in London. Boom times for royal hacks mean tough times for their lobby counterparts. Fortunately, today's publication of the latest edition of the MPs' register of interests is a godsend for story-starved journalists, scrabbling around to write about something that isn't about Harry and Meghan. Perusing the register this morning, Mr S was intrigued to see the name of Channel 4 popping up regularly as a frequent donor to MPs across the House. The public broadcaster has desperately been trying to fight a rearguard action against privatisation in recent months and appears to have launched something of a belated charm offensive to aid that goal.

During the past two years Jesus College has been a regular in the newspaper headlines. The Cambridge University college was last month found to have accepted cash from a 'very high risk' Chinese university for research into China’s prime tool of foreign influence. It came after a string of stories which contrasted the willingness of Jesus to accept donations from controversial Chinese sources with its efforts to remove a historic memorial linked to the slave trade from its chapel. Now though, it seems that the college has been moved to act. According to an email seen by The Spectator, 'following a detailed review by a panel of Fellows, the college has today announced the restructure of the China Centre, including changing its name and funding model'.

This has been Boris Johnson's worst week in politics since last week. Under-fire over partygate, accused of watering down the Sue Gray report and facing yet more letters of no-confidence, inflation and the cost-of-living crisis look set to further erode his standing still further. On Thursday, Rishi Sunak unveiled a package of measures to try to alleviate voters' economic pain, announcing a £400 reduction for energy bills and a £650 for eight million families on benefits. This will be paid for by a £5 billion windfall tax on energy companies. Not all voters though seem that impressed by Sunak's choice.

Politics' longest-running farce is at a close. Sue Gray, that pillar of Whitehall officialdom, has today delivered her report into whether Boris Johnson did indeed break lockdown rules during the pandemic. And while there will no doubt be some relief for those in No. 10 that Gray's inquiries didn't investigate any further parties to those previously reported, some of the details contained in her findings do make for excruciating reading. Below are six of the lowlights from the Sue Gray report.... 1. The Met torpedoed Gray's probe Few institutions emerge well from partygate but the Metropolitan Police probably came out worst.

Shock, horror! Another principled SNP stance has crumbled at first contact with the prospect of power. For much of the past three weeks the nationalists in Scotland have been screaming blue murder about opposition groups negotiating pacts on local authorities where the SNP are the largest party, to lock them out of office. Such deals between the Tories, Lib Dems and Labour should, perhaps, be unsurprising given that Nicola Sturgeon’s followers are still committed to the break-up of the UK. But that hasn’t stopped the First Minister’s lackeys from crying foul play every time a new deal has been announced. Take South Lanarkshire where the SNP won 27 of the council’s 64 seats but failed to win a majority, despite being the largest party.

As Westminster waits for Sue Gray to release her report, ITV has got there first. The broadcaster released images this afternoon of one of the Downing Street parties during lockdown – specifically the 13 November 2020 leaving drinks for Lee Cain, Boris Johnson's former director of communications.  Bottles of alcohol and party food are pictured on the table in front of the Prime Minister, with eight people pictured standing closely together, as well as the photographer. In several of the photographs, Boris Johnson appears to be making a speech and raising a toast, with half a glass of fizz in his hands.  On a chair sits his red box, and on the table next to him are two bottles of champagne or cava, four bottles of wine and half a bottle of gin.