Steerpike

Rising taxes, middling growth, the spectre of inflation – there's much at present to get Tory MPs annoyed. But it's not just the Budget that's got some of them exercised this week; a damning report into Owen Paterson by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards has wound up many on the backbenches. The former Cabinet minister has hit back strongly against claims that he had 'repeatedly' used his position to benefit two companies who paid him as a consultant, with Paterson calling on colleagues to waive Parliamentary privilege so he can challenge the inquiry's findings in the courts. Jacob Rees-Mogg today told MPs that the Commons will debate and vote on Paterson's 30-day suspension from Parliament on Wednesday.

Oh dear. Poor Keir Starmer has tested positive for Covid meaning he has to miss today's Budget. Unlike Boris, he has managed to avoid getting ill until now but it's the fifth time he has been forced to self-isolate after four previous incidents. Starmer's absence means that shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves will be forced to step in to deliver the response to Rishi Sunak's speech, while Prime Ministers' Questions will be fronted by Ed Miliband. Ahead of COP26, it looks like Labour intend to show their eco-credentials by recycling their old leaders too... On the Tory side, a different Covid row dominates: the ongoing saga about masks.

Back in July the wedding of Boris and Carrie at Westminster Cathedral prompted Steerpike's diligent colleague Robert Peston to ask a personal – but constitutionally important – question: is the PM a Catholic? As the head of government in a country with an established church, the Prime Minister and his office are intimately involved in deciding who runs the Church of England via his role in the appointment of bishops. Some premiers of course have relished their role in the ecclesiastical process. When appointing the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1961, Harold Macmillan was said to have been urged by the incumbent Geoffrey Fisher not to appoint Michael Ramsay as his successor on the grounds that: 'I have known him all his life – I was his headmaster at Repton.

Mr S had not intended to provide a rolling blog of COP26. But with the UN's green games less than a week ago, things in host city Glasgow go from bad to worse as the world's leaders prepare to jet in to tell the rest of us how to save the planet. Unite and GMB today confirmed their bin men, school cleaners and janitorial staff will be the latest workers out on strike during the eco-summit, joining the RMT's train drivers and the GBA's lawyers on the picket lines. At what does point does industrial action become a general strike...? And it's that decision by the refuse collectors to walk out which will compound the other main issue currently plaguing Glasgow and its long-suffering residents.

Boris Johnson might insist that the UK will not ‘pitchfork’ Chinese investment but it seems not everyone in government agrees. Liz Truss, the new Foreign Secretary, has made headlines today for saying what many on her back benches believe — that Britain cannot be dependent on China and allow it a role in our nuclear plants or the G7.  That fundamental divide on how to approach Beijing is not merely confined to Westminster, but rather something that extends across industry, civil society and of course, academia. One of the ways the Chinese Communist Party has sought to extend its overseas cultural influence is by Confucius Institutes.

Irony was officially pronounced dead this week after disgraced MP Claudia Webbe launched an attack on 'wrong, bad and exploitative' bosses. Webbe is facing a possible jail sentence after being convicted of harassment last week but is still merrily carrying on as if nothing has happened, regularly launching Twitter attacks on the government and blithely ignoring all calls to resign — even those from the official Labour press office. https://twitter.com/ClaudiaWebbe/status/1451520225573281812?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Still, even Mr S was surprised to learn of Webbe's latest act of brazenness.

Is Laura Kuenssberg’s time as BBC political editor coming to an end? That’s the suggestion tonight after the Guardian reported she is in talks to step down from the role and move to a plum gig hosting the Today programme.  Rumours of Kuenssberg’s impending departure have been circulating around Westminster for some time now to little avail. But this time it is being talked up as part of a wider shake up of the Beeb’s lead presenters, with Jon Sopel recently announcing he is ending his US beat and returning to the UK. Rumours of Kuenssberg’s impending departure have been circulating around Westminster for some time now Kuenssberg’s time in the role has not exactly been smooth sailing.