Steerpike

Nigel Farage has been on a well-deserved high after Reform pulled off a spectacular coup at the local elections. But could that all be about to come crashing down? As if today didn't already have its fair share of twists and turns, the Commons sleaze watchdog decided to announce a probe into the Reform leader. Daniel Greenberg, the parliamentary standards commissioner, will investigate Farage to determine whether he broke the rules on declaring financial interests after pocketing a £5mn donation from a crypto billionaire in 2024. Reform says the present from Christopher Harborne was a strictly 'personal' donation and, as such, was not subject to Commons rules. It was also received before the leading Brexiteer decided to make a run for parliament.

More than 50 backbenchers have now called for Sir Keir Starmer to resign, despite his rousing rallying cry for unity this morning. But the big question now is which, if any, of Labour’s big beasts will make a move against their dear leader. While cabinet contenders bide time, Mr S is told that ministers on the lower rungs of government are now bracing to resign, possibly as early as today. Although swathes of the Labour great and good have had enough of the prime minister, there remains considerable fear about taking a leap outside the government tent, only for it to backfire and scupper hopes of a top job in future. That said, there is still a sizeable contingent of backbenchers who are desperate to keep Sir Keir in post.

The SNP look just about set to keep hold of Holyrood with an overall majority – but not without some major casualties. Spare a thought for Angus Robertson, who has been ousted from his Edinburgh Central seat by another nat – only this time from the Scottish Greens. The former government minister and party deputy leader not only lost but slumped to a humiliating third place. He was defeated by radical leftie Lorna Slater, who finished comfortably ahead by 5,000 votes. Slater previously served as a minister in the Scottish Government after the 2021 election, when the SNP got into bed with the Greens. The power-sharing arrangement ended in 2024. The Canadian trumpeted her victory as a ‘significant milestone’'.

Good old Zack Polanski spent the night before the local elections pontificating once again on – you guessed it – Palestine. The searing insight Britain’s own former breast-enhancing hypnotist offered this time was that Israel does not have a right to exist. This, the philosophising Green leader proclaimed, is because no country should enjoy such a privilege. Polanski was invited to indulge the nation with his thoughts during an appearance on ITV’s Peston programme. Pressed on whether the tiny Middle Eastern state ought to be granted permission to continue existing, the newly anointed vanguard of Woke Britain declared: I don’t believe any country has a right to exist. People have a right to exist, the Israelis have a right to exist, the Palestinians have a right to exist.

Andy Burnham has once again sent Labour’s Blairite backbenches into a storm. The wannabe Prime Minister has a knack for infuriating his party’s ‘right’ and today is no exception. His latest wheeze? Signing up to a ‘progressive rally’ in East London, where he’ll be parked alongside such political luminaries as former Green leader Caroline Lucas and Lib Dem grandee Sir Vince Cable. The Change:Now event, slated for the end of this month, is choc-a-bloc with trade union barons, left-wing think tankers and even the director of an organisation dedicated to ‘building migrant power’. Ministry of Housing minister Miatta Fahnbulleh, an Ed Miliband acolyte, also makes the bill. Talk about a grand coalition: from the left to the, er, even more left...

With two days to go before voters take to the ballot box, leadership manoeuvring, that perennial Westminster pastime, has slipped into a higher gear. Allies of Angela Rayner, Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting have been making the rounds among ever more febrile backbenchers. And their respective teams are at work to ensure plans are in place should the first blow be struck amid what many are bracing to be a local election bloodbath. So grave is the mood that Rayner has even quit vaping. One can only wonder if booze will be next after she was alleged to have drunkenly crashed into the door of parliament’s Strangers bar last week… Meanwhile, over in Downing Street, an operation to Save Sir Keir Starmer is in full swing.