Steerpike

It was Opposition Day in the Commons yesterday, with the SNP plumping for a debate on Covid contracts – a bold choice given the £500 million approved by Holyrood without scrutiny. For leader Ian Blackford however it was a golden opportunity to rail against Westminster's 'endemic cronyism during a global pandemic, the misuse of funds, and covid profiteers.' At least he had the good sense to make his claims about ministers 'funnelling covid cash from the frontline into the pockets of their rich friends' under parliamentary privilege, unlike Labour's Grand Poobah Angela Rayner, collector of titles and dispenser of insults. Blackford might have thought the Covid 'chumocracy' would provide him with rich pickings.

It was just three weeks ago that Steerpike pointed out that Labour MP Naz Shah was being billed to speak at a charity fundraiser alongside a controversial imam. Now it seems the shadow minister for community cohesion has caused yet further headaches for her leader thanks to her speech on Monday on the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.  Just hours after Kim Leadbeater took her seat in Parliament, following a campaign dogged by questions about a Batley school teacher forced to go into hiding for showing children a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad, Shah delivered an eyebrow-raising intervention likening such depictions to the vandalism of Winston Churchill's statue.

Government flats have been in the news a fair bit recently. Much ink was spilled over the £88,000 Boris and Carrie shelled out to interior designer Lulu Lytle to do up the Prime Minister's flat at the end of last year. But now it seems the Johnsons got off lightly, judging by the current exorbitant rate going for Downing Street apartments. A Freedom of Information request by Steerpike has shed light on a previously little-known arrangement between government departments over the Chancellor's official flat, which is based in No. 10, adjacent to the Prime Minister's larger abode next door in No. 11.

It's been a busy afternoon in Westminster, with both Boris Johnson's press conference and Sajid Javid's Commons statement absorbing the attention of SW1's finest hacks. In the New Labour era, such a smorgasbord of headlines would be what cynical spin-doctors call: 'A good day to bury bad news' – with all eyes elsewhere, it's the perfect time to take out the trash. So Mr S was intrigued to see Oliver Dowden's culture department quietly issue a letter today, thanking Roger Taylor for his three years at the helm of the little-known 'Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation.' The latter is best known as the former chair of exams regulator Ofqual, who quit at the end of last year after the summer's A-level results day fiasco.

It's not been a great week for James Dornan. On Saturday the SNP MSP was forced to apologise (again) for suggesting Lothian Buses' decision to cancel travel services over anti-social behaviour was linked to St Patrick's Day, with the implication that the company blamed Catholics for the problem.  Then on Wednesday Mr S showed the lengths the Hate-Finder General had gone to investigate the now debunked Tik Tok video of Rangers players allegedly singing a sectarian song, requesting information for his constituents which he then appears to have not subsequently disclosed. Now one of Steerpike's readers has got in touch to point out Dornan's comments made during the Holyrood election back in May.

It’s been a bad week for marriages in Westminster. First the revelation of Matt Hancock’s affair with adviser, friend and Pinterest lover Gina Coladangelo led to the ex-Health Secretary splitting from wife Martha. And now today, the minister for the Cabinet Office Michael Gove has revealed he and his wife Sarah Vine are divorcing after 20 years of marriage. A spokesman released a statement this afternoon confirming the news:  Michael and Sarah have agreed to separate and they are in the process of finalising their divorce. They will continue to support their two children and they remain close friends. The family politely ask for privacy at this time and will not be providing any further comment.

At long last, the bloody, bruising and bitter Batley and Spen by-election is at an end. After eight weeks of campaigning, replete with controversy and allegations of harassment, the results will be finally declared at 5am on Friday morning in this Labour held-seat facing a stiff Tory challenge.  If Keir Starmer's party loses tomorrow it will be their third by-election loss in the same number of months. Today's Times carries a front page story that Starmer's deputy Angela Rayner is preparing a leadership challenge, with MPs close to the latter allegedly canvassing support among parliamentary colleagues and trade unions.

It's by-election day in Batley and Spen tomorrow. The only constituency polling done in the West Yorkshire seat suggests that the Tories stand a good chance of grabbing it off Labour, with the intervention of George Galloway threatening to turn the seat blue for the first time since 1997.  In recent weeks there has been much commentary on how the Conservative party can balance its delicate electoral coalition between the red wall in the north and the home counties in the south, following the Chesham and Amersham upset. Mr S therefore thought it worthwhile to commission some polling on the attitudes of 2019 Conservative voters towards the government.