Steerpike

Members of the European Parliament voted this afternoon to pass Boris Johnson’s Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, ensuring that Britain will leave the EU on 31 January, with a Brexit deal in place. The passing of Boris’s deal also heralded the close of Britain’s participation in the European Parliament, ahead of Brexit day on Friday. And, as expected, the vote ended up being an emotional moment for many MEPs, who chose to mark Britain’s departure by singing Robert Burns’ Auld Lang Syne. Watch here: https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1222576142928023552?

There are many characteristics that make a good leader. Honesty, eloquence, and charisma are traditionally high up on the list. But Labour's leadership elections have shown that one attribute is now prized above all else - loyalty to Jeremy Corbyn. Almost all of the candidates have tried to present themselves as Corbyn's natural successor. The latest candidate to put themselves forward as some unswerving Corbyn ally is the deputy leadership hopeful Dawn Butler. Ms Butler told a hustings on Saturday: 'We have some real selfish MPs, let me be honest, that thought it was okay that after Jeremy was elected, democratically elected as a leader, [they thought] "do you know what? Let's join a coup and do it again and try and deselect him." Well no. He was elected as our democratic leader.

Love him or hate him, you can't deny that John Bercow had an outsized political impact in 2019. The former Speaker was instrumental in the battles to block Brexit through legislation and parliamentary procedure, and his decision to delay his departure probably changed the course of British history. So it was perhaps unsurprising that Bercow was The Spectator's insurgent of the year at last night's parliamentarian awards. Unfortunately, he was not able to attend the event in person, but did provide this video message, which put to bed the rumours once and for all, that he was a Speaker who was obsessed with self-promotion and only concerned about flogging his own memoirs. Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

*According to Labour party members. Research carried out by the polling company YouGov reveals the surprising fact that party members rank the absolute boy as the absolute best Labour leader of the last hundred years. When asked whether members had a favourable or unfavourable view of each of the last 13 leaders, JC came out on top. Yes, that's the same Jeremy Corbyn who just last month managed to secure the party's worst defeat since 1935. Corbyn beat the founding father of the modern Labour party Clem Attlee and far outstripped the most successful leader since the party's foundation, Tony Blair. As YouGov points out, the results are partly down to the fact that one in four (!!) Labour party members don't actually seem to know who Attlee is.

Who should be able to celebrate Durham's proud legacy of mining? Maybe those who represent the miners' constituencies in Westminster? Not according to the man who organises the annual miners gala, which takes place every July. Durham Miners president Alan Mardghum told the BBC: 'To paraphrase Johnson, I'd rather be found dead in a ditch than invite them or Johnson to the gala... Why would we invite Tories to the Durham Miners' Gala?' Never mind that many ex-miners voted Conservative at the general election and one former pit man is now a Tory MP. So what is Mardghum's advice to Tories who do decide to ignore his snub and come to celebrate their voters' history?

Leading members of Labour's left-wing met on Thursday evening to rally the troops and reflect on what went wrong in the election. 'I'm sure we've all had a good time to mourn and analyse what went wrong and why we didn't win the election,' uttered the chair opening the event. 'I think there were many factors that led to the defeat but I think there is one thing we should be absolutely clear about and that is that there was nothing wrong with Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.' The hall erupted into applause. Her comments set the tone for the rest of the evening: whoever was to blame, it wasn't Jeremy Corbyn. So, beyond the irreproachable leadership, what was responsible for Labour's worst defeat in almost a century? 'It was the media lies', the chair reassured the crowd.

This afternoon, the newly elected Conservative MP for Bishop Auckland, Dehenna Davison, delivered her first speech in the House of Commons. The northern MP, the first ever Tory to take her Durham seat since it was formed in 1885, has already caused a bit of a stir in Westminster, and been at the forefront of the new intake of 'Red Wall' Tory MPs who managed to seize Labour's working-class heartlands in the 2019 election. In her Maiden speech, the Tory MP described herself as 'chuffed' to be in the House of Commons and representing the people of Bishop Auckland, before delivering an impassioned defence of her constituency's 'industrial heartlands', Blue Collar Toryism, the police and NHS.