Steerpike

It's groundhog day in Westminster as sexual ethics becomes the topic of conversation once again. There have been a flurry of stories in recent weeks about the behaviour of honourable members in parliament, none of which have particularly edifying. First there were the revelations about the disgraced ex-MP Charlie Elphicke and the subsequent suspension of his (still-serving) colleague David Warburton over allegations of drug abuse, sexual misconduct and the failure to declare a loan. Then Imran Ahmad Khan was convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy – prompting Crispin Blunt's extraordinary intervention.

Once we had Dimbleby and Day: now it's Nigel Farage and Piers Morgan. The two TV pundits have been trading insults this month ahead of last night's launch of TalkTV, with both now seen as the figureheads of their two respective network channels. There's Farage, the self-styled saviour of GB News, which launched in June, and Morgan, the well-remunerated controversialist with an eye for the main chance and a love of a good scrap. The former Daily Mirror editor accused the Brexiteer of trying 'to sabotage my interview with President Trump in a despicable act of two-faced weasel treachery' after the two clashed about whether Trump stormed out of his TalkTV interview.

China is back on the agenda in Westminster. Whether it's Boris's trip to India or a Beijing-based take-over of Newport Wafer Fab, it's hard to escape the flutter of the five-starred red flag. And there’s few signs of that abating any time soon, with leading US Senator Marco Rubio launching an attack this month on American universities that entered into financial arrangements with China-based entities, including those directly governed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). According to Rubio, such educational investment is 'all part of Beijing’s plan to overtake the United States as the world’s most powerful nation.' Naturally, Steerpike wanted to find out just how much the CCP has invested at centres of higher learning here in the UK.

The government seems keen to conduct something of a war on Whitehall. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the minster for government efficiency, has even taken to leaving calling cards in empty offices in order to encourage civil servants to return to their workplaces. But hybrid working isn't the only problem facing the civil service: a more costly issue, perhaps, is the spiralling bill to taxpayers of Sir Humphrey's army of outside advisers brought in to aid Whitehall's finest.  For total government expenditure on external consultants increased by 70 per cent in the last five financial years, rising from £717 million in 2016/17 to £1.2 billion in 2020/21.

Online offence is back in the news after a man received a suspended sentence of 10 weeks for sending a ‘grossly offensive’ viral video of a cardboard model of Grenfell Tower being burned on a bonfire. It's an issue that the Tory party have mixed views on: many of its MPs claim to stand for free speech but Nadine Dorries's Online Safety Bill aims to restrict abusive content, with obvious potential ramifications. So how much police time is currently being spent on investigating offensive online posts? Well, Mr S has seen some Freedom of Information requests which point to the issue being of increasing concern to our boys in blue. Between 2020 and 2022 four police forces in England investigated 133 cases of offensive social media posts.

Boris Johnson's India trip hasn't got off to the best of starts. Seeking to escape domestic woes, the Prime Minister jetted off to the subcontinent yesterday, only to face a fresh row about the Commons U-turn on the parliamentary investigation into Partygate. And Johnson's irritation at the prospect of yet another inquiry was palpable in an interview he gave to Sky's Beth Rigby earlier today. Throughout the ten-minute long grilling, the PM sighed exaggeratedly, rolled his eyes, looked at his watch and barely concealed his disdain at his interrogator's questions. He asked Rigby 'how many' times she would ask him about Covid parties, claiming that: 'You promised to get on, you did promise to get onto the substance of this trip?

Sir Keir Starmer is riding highs in the polls, topping Boris Johnson as the preferred PM of the people. Sober, studied and serious: after the ups and downs of the past six years, he's (apparently) looking like an increasingly attractive offering to a weary electorate. But Mr S is somewhat perturbed by the Labour leader's selective memory when it comes to trading on his legal career.  Starmer served as Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) between 2008 and 2013, having previously spent two decades training as a barrister.

It never rains for No. 10 but it pours. After both Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak were last week fined in recess for breaching lockdown laws, the Prime Minister returned to parliament today to atone for his sins. And it's not been a happy afternoon for Johnson as opposition leader after opposition leader denounced him in the strongest possible terms. Keir Starmer and Ed Davey both won plaudits for their interventions – even Ian Blackford was heard in near reverential silence. Johnson is expected to win the looming Commons vote on an investigation into Partygate but he might not be able to navigate other challenges to his position so easily.