Steerpike

Tory backbenchers have had an uncomfortable relationship with face masks since they were brought in last year. Spectators in the Commons chamber are greeted by the sight of many more Labour MPs preferring to wear the coverings than their Conservative counterparts, with some of the latter relishing the divide as the fundamental difference between their two parties. But that reluctance for masks gave Sajid Javid an awkward moment at yesterday's No. 10 press conference. After Sebastian Payne of the Financial Times pointed out to the Health Secretary that Tory MPs not wearing mask risked undermining government messaging and risked leaving them open to charges of hypocrisy, a squirming Javid said: I think that's a very fair point.

Is it time for another lockdown? Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, is urging ministers to implement sweeping 'plan B' winter measures, saying that immediate action is required to prevent the NHS 'stumbling into a crisis' arguing that 'we should try to achieve the kind of national mobilisation that we achieved in the first and second waves, where the public went out of their way to support and help the health service.' Similar arguments were made to justify the first lockdown - with apocalyptic SAGE scenarios suggesting hospitals would be overwhelmed with a need for 138,000 ventilators (vs a supply of 6,800 ventilators) with a potential need for 72,000 ventilators by November.

The world is gearing up for COP26, the UN's climate change conference in Glasgow, due to be held in less than a fortnight's time. Ahead of the eco-jamboree, ministers and mandarins have been busily telling the rest of us how to live, with the Treasury today unveiling the truth about how much going green will cost: the Net Zero target means by 2030 we can expect to pay £45,000 for a new electric car while the replacement for a gas boiler by 2035 should be between £6,000 to £10,000. Ooft. Still, while the government has suggested saving the planet by not rinsing plates before putting them in a dishwasher or freezing, rather than throwing out, half-used loaves of bread, other Whitehall apparatchiks seem far less keen on such measures.

Did the Johnson clan breach lockdown rules last December? That's the question being asked in Westminster today after a profile in Harper's Magazine of Carrie Johnson reported that her close friend Nimco Ali spent Christmas in 10 Downing Street with the couple, despite pandemic restrictions on holiday gatherings. At the time, London was under Tier 4 Covid rules which meant Christmas bubbles were scrapped at the last minute and individuals advised to limit their social interactions as much as possible. When the claims first emerged, they received a furious slap down from all sides. A No. 10 spokesman announced that the Prime Minister and Mrs.

Following the murder of Sir David Amess on Friday, there has been much discussion about the level of security for MPs and their staff. Amess was the second parliamentarian to be murdered in five years while out meeting constituents, following the assassination of Jo Cox in 2016, the attack on Stephen Timms MP in 2010 and the death of Andy Pennington, assistant to Nigel Jones MP, at his constituency office in 2000. Not for nothing did the security budget for MPs spiral from £170,576 in 2015/16 to £3.5 million in 2018/19. And while much of the debate so far has focused on abuse targeted at elected representatives, their staff in Westminster and constituency offices also face numerous threats, trolls and attacks.

As every pub-bore politico knows, betting markets tend to be more reliable indicators of election outcomes than the pundits and even the polls.  That is why the latest odds on America’s 2024 presidential elections strike Mr S as worth noting. Donald J. Trump yesterday become favourite on Betfair to be the 2024 Presidential winner, with his ‘shortest odds ever’. According to the betting exchange, Trump has a 21 per cent chance of winning. President Joe Biden, who is plummeting in the polls, has fallen to 19 per cent. Elsewhere, Vice President Kamala Harris has a 13 per cent chance of victory —which reflects the widespread theory that she will at some point take over from the doddery Commander-in-Chief.

It's not just Glasgow currently overrun with rubbish. Down in Brighton, the right-on Green brigade there have found themselves in something of a bin-related disaster following industrial action by local refuse collectors. Streets are now overflowing with dozens of black sacks, with rats being spotted and horrendous smells reported as garbage piles up by the kerb. The city's local newspaper even ran a picture of an abandoned sex doll on its front page story, urging those involved to 'stop the bin strike for her.' Talk about an issue blowing up... https://twitter.com/SteveNickSmith/status/1448610967571554305?

William Hague was only 16 when he burst onto the political scene with his famous conference speech. But even the future Tory party leader would seem like a veritable grandfather compared to those in youth politics these days. For now the Liberal Democrats have given the green light to a 12-year-old to run in their party’s annual youth wing elections currently being held this month.  The political neophyte in question is Aneirin Keysell, a schoolboy from Richmond-upon-Thames running to fill the post of non-portfolio officer.

Broadcasting, writing, life-coaching and speech-making: there seems to be no end to the talents of Harry and Meghan. But now the Sussexes have announced their hitherto unknown ambition to be 'ethical bankers', alongside their existing gigs as occasional podcasters, exiled royals and infrequent guests on various Oprah shows.  With all their talk of 'finding freedom' abroad, Mr S never realised Wall Street was what Harry and Meghan had in mind In prose worthy of the Pyongyang press, the couple revealed in a fawning New York Times interview that they are joining Ethic, a fintech asset manager in the fast-growing environmental, social and governance space, as 'impact partners' and investors. The firm has $1.