Steerpike

Britain’s leading universities are just one sector having to grapple with the recent decline in UK-China relations. Barely six years ago David Cameron was speaking of a new ‘golden age’ of partnership between the two nations but all that has changed after the Hong Kong crackdown and Xinjiang atrocities. Now there is pressure in both political and academic circles for greater transparency from Russell Group universities about their funding sources, amid increasing concern about the reliance of the UK's academic institutions on Chinese money. For Steerpike understands that Tory backbenchers are considering whether to table amendments to the Higher Education Bill to improve transparency for the higher education sector.

Boris Johnson isn't the only party leader doing renovations it seems. The newly updated parliamentary register of interests has been released this week, two months after the Owen Paterson scandal triggered an exodus of MPs from their second jobs. Not all though appear to have embraced the new hair shirt mentality though, with Sir Keir Starmer declaring receipt of a £1,500 oil painting from artist Tim Benson. Is he measuring up the No. 10 flat already? Let's hope it fits with the Lulu Lytle wallpaper. Starmer wasn't the only MP to catch Steerpike's eye. Take the tallest MP in the House, Daniel Kawczynski, the honourable member for serial controversy.

Looking back, it wasn't a great 2021 for LGBT+ group Stonewall. There were the allegations it misrepresented the law in its advice to Essex University, accusations from founder Matthew Parris that it was trying to delegitimise critics and the ongoing exodus of Whitehall departments from its much-criticised diversity scheme. But despite all this controversy, the charity's latest accounts reveal a still-reliable stream of income from one reliable source: the taxpayer. Stonewall received £1.25 million in taxpayer-funded grants in just 18 months to March 2021, according to documents published this week. This figure is a near-67 per cent increase on the £748,000 they received in their previous accounts, which covered the 12 months up until September 2019.

At long last, the flatgate letters are out. Boris Johnson has today been cleared by his ethics adviser Lord Geidt of deliberately misleading an investigation into the funding of his Downing Street flat refurbishment – despite being accused of acting 'unwisely'. Geidt had previously cleared Johnson of breaking the ministerial code over allegations of soliciting a donation from Lord Brownlow but a recent Electoral Commission investigation revealed previously unknown WhatsApp messages between Brownlow and Johnson.

The booster rollout continues at pace but not all Westminster are happy with efforts to increase vaccine take-up. Tory backbencher Danny Kruger popped up in the Commons today to ask the Leader of the House for time to debate compulsory vaccination for NHS workers. All healthcare staff must be jabbed by 1 April or risk facing the sack – one of the so-called 'Plan B' measures which Kruger reluctantly endorsed last month after wrestling with his conscience. Kruger began his question by referencing research published by the British Medical Journal shortly after the Commons voted for the package of Covid measures. It found that the effectiveness of a third vaccine wore off after three months in preventing the transmission of Omicron.

Fallen idols are something of a trend in Bristol at the moment. But as controversy rages over the Colston statue toppling, another is brewing at the local university. For staff there are refusing to reveal the costs and identity of the top QC who led the investigation into the long-running David Miller saga.  The controversial academic was sacked by the University of Bristol last October, having been accused by the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Anti-Semitism of ‘inciting hatred against Jewish students' for his comments about Israel, Zionism and the student Jewish Society.

Sadiq Khan is always on the lookout for any way in to national debate, and this week he has been starting – quite rightly – to focus on the benefits of vaccination. But the key to doing this effectively is not to say stuff that’s not true. Here, he struggles. After the No. 10 press conference, he tweeted out one of Chris Whitty's graphs claiming that 'at all ages – the vast, vast majority of people hospitalised with Covid have not yet been vaccinated.' But is this actually true? In a word: no. https://twitter.com/SadiqKhan/status/1478416649686753280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Vaccinations reduce your chances of hospitalisation by 88 per cent: they work.

Oh dear. It was just two weeks ago that Mr S remarked on Nicola Sturgeon's unfortunate habit of sneering at journalists who criticised her Covid policies – only to then quietly backtrack days later, without apology or remorse. And now another U-turn can be added to the growing list, after the First Minister today announced she would cut the self-isolation period to seven days. The move is in keeping with Edinburgh's record throughout the pandemic in moving glacially slow to recognise the wisdom of anything done in London. For England changed its Covid rules on 22 December so that infected individuals can stop isolating after seven days rather than ten, so long as they test negative on day six and seven.

After what her husband put her through, it's no surprise that Martha Hancock might not be the biggest fan of Boris Johnson's government. The soon-to-be ex-wife of the disgraced former health secretary had to suffer days of snooping snappers and sensationalist speculation in June after news of her husband's affair broke.  The ordeal wasn't exactly helped by Johnson's initial refusal to sack Hancock as a minister, prolonging the misery for all as the PM tried to stand by his man. And now Mrs H has perhaps hinted at her true feelings about the embattled Tory leader, if her recent Twitter activity is anything to go by.