Steerpike

Well, at least someone's having a worse week than Boris Johnson. For the Queen has announced this afternoon that Prince Andrew has now been stripped of his military affiliations and patronages that meant so much to them both. The news follows a day after an American judge gave the green light for the Duke of York to face a sexual assault civil lawsuit in the States. The move comes hours after more than 150 military veterans wrote to Her Majesty to ask her to strip Andrew of his honorary military roles amid what they described as their 'upset and anger.' The Queen's statement makes clear that Andrew will 'continue not to undertake any public duties' and is defending his ongoing lawsuit as a 'private citizen.' Ooft. https://twitter.

Peter Bone was up at PMQs today, asking a rare, non-partygate question to our beleaguered Prime Minister on whether he'd abolish the BBC licence fee (answer: no). But not all the Wellingborough backbencher's maneuverings in Parliament this week seem designed to be so helpful to Boris, as he battles to save his premiership. For Mr S has spotted that Bone has a Private Members' Bill up in the House of Commons on Friday on... how to replace an incapacitated Prime Minister. As speculation heats up over who could and should replace Johnson, Bone's timely move seeks to tidy up the question of succession to the post of First Lord of the Treasury.

Amid all the hubbub of cheese, wine and garden parties, it can be hard to focus on non-Covid matters. Still, one Tory MP appears to have managed it, given the decision of Jesse Norman today to table an amendment to the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill.  Norman, whose motion is seconded by a trio of well-respected colleagues — Sir Robert Buckland, Robert Halfon and Damian Green — wants universities to declare all donations over £50,000 from foreign donors and list those sums in an annual register published by the Office for Students.

Budgets can be tricky things to manage. George Osborne saw two of his unravel in 2012 and 2016, over hot pasties and welfare cuts respectively, while his 2013 effort was derailed by the Evening Standard breaking its embargo. Thankfully Rishi Sunak has largely avoided such embarrassments in his three efforts so far. Helped by a legion of Rolls-Royce civil servants – and a savvy social media team – the Richmond MP has enjoyed favourable poll ratings off the back of his well-received statements, accompanied, as always, by carefully-crafted images depicting the Chancellor at his best. But it seems all that isn't enough for the ambitious resident of No. 11.