Steerpike

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has just announced that he has also tested positive for coronavirus. Matt Hancock has tweeted out a video in which he says he has been suffering from mild symptoms of the disease and is now self-isolating at home.  https://twitter.com/MattHancock/status/1243522325397622784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw His announcement follows the revelation by Boris Johnson that he has also contracted the disease. And, like his boss, Hancock will continue working from home to coordinate the government's response.  The question now, though, is how many people in government also have coronavirus. Michael Gove's wife Sarah Vine has said that her husband has not yet been tested because he' is not displaying any of the symptoms.

As the House of Commons rises for a premature Easter recess, coronavirus continues to dominate all parliamentary business. However, today also marks Jeremy Corbyn's final day in parliament as Labour leader – he put in his last Prime Minister's Questions opposition performance this lunchtime. While many in Corbyn's own party won't be sad to see him go, Jacob Rees-Mogg appears to take a different view. The Leader of the House gave an unlikely tribute to the departing Labour leader: 'I perhaps have a particular admiration for him which may surprise him.

It seems the Observer's favourite intrepid investigative journalist has been at it again. Yes, Carole Cadwalladr has been tweeting. On Sunday evening, Cadwalladr decided to deviate from telling her half a million Twitter followers that the UK is in the palm of the Russians by explaining that we are now living through an unprecedented era of press control and media manipulation.  Cadwalladr was able to uncover something that no other journalist had yet revealed - that the daily coronavirus press briefings are, in fact, a sham: As you, dear reader, may have guessed by now, this statement is entirely and utterly false. it is untrue. It bears no resemblance to the facts.  The press conferences are not 'stage managed'.

With Westminster seemingly awash with coronavirus, the number of MPs and government aides in self-isolation increases by the day. This has led to chatter within government over who ought to step in should Boris Johnson find himself out of action for two weeks with a case of Covid-19. As first secretary of state, Dominic Raab is the minister No. 10 plan to draft in should Johnson fall ill – reportedly to the disappointment of Michael Gove and Matt Hancock. So, what about Labour? Given that the leadership contest doesn't end til next month, the stand-in leader would have to come from the current shadow cabinet.

For those wondering how coronavirus will affect the Brexit negotiations, one immediate issue has arisen today: Michel Barnier has contracted the disease. The EU's chief negotiator revealed the diagnosis on social media this morning, and said that ‘I am doing well and in good spirits. I am following all the necessary instructions, as is my team.’ https://twitter.com/MichelBarnier/status/1240583782643773440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw So far, the UK and EU have continued with the Brexit negotiations, even as the virus spreads across the continent. But now that the EU’s chief negotiator and team are presumably in quarantine, the chances of a deal being reached by the end of the year are looking increasingly slim.

A slanging match has broken out between Nadine Dorries and the wife of a Tory MP. Dorries, who was diagnosed with coronavirus earlier this week, was criticised by Nevena Bridgen, the opera singer wife of Andrew Bridgen, who is currently in self isolation. Nevena Bridgen accused the health minister of putting her family at risk: ‘He can’t get the test now! I have the baby and a 75 years old mother jeopardised. You were treated but no one is coming to help us!’ https://twitter.com/NevenaBridgen/status/1238394617369956352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Dorries then hit back, saying that while the pair were in the same room, they were not close or even on the same table: https://twitter.com/NadineDorries/status/1238421678411128832?

Rory Stewart announced at a meeting today that he won’t be holding any more meetings as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. https://twitter.com/BoardofDeputies/status/1238017187840954371?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw He is also cancelling all of his door-knocking and canvassing, putting a swift end to his sofa-surfing escapade. https://twitter.com/RoryStewartUK/status/1238056786294460416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Mr S. thinks that this meeting really should have been an email.

Oh dear. Michael Gove, the minister entrusted to head up the British civil service, seems to have developed a problem with multitasking. The key government minister was giving evidence this morning to the Committee on the Future Relationship with the EU when he made an unfortunate mistake.  So engrossed was Gove in the point that he was making that he managed to pour the contents of his water jug all over his phone and papers - just as Hillary Benn was pouring cold water all over his evidence. Let's hope that Gove is more effective at juggling his various briefs... https://twitter.com/Alain_Tolhurst/status/1237700971553263619?

How far the Tories have come. Once, the former chancellor was unassailable, bestowing his patronage on those who knew the true value of loyalty. Now, MPs from northern working-class constituencies openly mock George Osborne on the floor of the House of Commons.  Jacob Young, the new Conservative MP for Redcar, used his maiden speech to poke fun at the elitist tendencies of the mastermind behind the Northern Powerhouse. He told fellow his fellow parliamentarians: 'Most people down here think PPE is a degree course but where I come from it's what you wear to work. Indeed, Mr Deputy Speaker, to the envy of George Osborne, I believe I am the first MP to be wearing a hard hat on his parliamentary pass.

On Boxing day last year the lawyer and Remain-supporting campaigner, Jolyon Maugham, made probably the most unwise decision of his life. He decided, after having an altercation with an animal in his garden that morning, to recount his experience on social media.  At 8am, the campaigner and QC revealed that:  'Already this morning I have killed a fox with a baseball bat. How's your Boxing day going?' In subsequent messages, Maugham explained that the unlucky fox had become trapped in his chicken coop and, to complete the picture, that he had been wearing his wife's kimono as he dispatched the desperate animal.

Nothing brings people together quite like a late night kebab. That was certainly the lesson that Mr Steerpike learnt on Tuesday evening when the Westminster Village descended on the British Kebab Awards. The annual meat-based bash saw politicians, hacks and restauranteurs rub shoulders at the Park Plaza hotel in Waterloo.  But Mr S wasn't the only one who felt a sense of gastronomic geniality. Jeremy Corbyn, the outgoing Labour leader, was spotted snapping a selfie with his new Tory colleague Dehenna Davison. Mr Corbyn seemed unaware of the fact that the new MP was one of the so-called 'Red Wall' Tories. Davison managed to deprived the Islington socialist of the traditional North East Labour stronghold of Bishop Auckland at last year's general election.