Steerpike

Ever since leaving parliament, George Osborne has been piling up jobs almost as fast as he piled up the national debt when in office (nine, at the last count) But he might soon have an easier balancing act, with his editorship of the Evening Standard in question. The rumour from Derry Street is that the typically chummy relationship between Osborne and Evgeny Lebedev has been strained since Christmas. What could have led to a cold spell? Disagreement over Putin? Boris? London’s upcoming mayoral election? Mr S hears that a rather more mundane incident could be to blame.

After Claire Perry O'Neill was unceremoniously dumped as the president of the COP26 UN climate change summit in Glasgow, it was revealed today that Boris Johnson had been casting his net wide in search of her successor. It has been reported that Boris asked none other than David Cameron to take Claire Perry O'Neill's place, before moving on to William Hague. As neither were available (Cameron has said he had 'a lot of things' on his plate, Hague said he preferred writing books), Jeremy Corbyn's office helpfully suggested that Ed Miliband should be given the top job. He certainly has the time, although Mr S thinks he's unlikely to be asked by Number 10 to represent the UK in front of world leaders in Glasgow this November. So who is the favourite to succeed Claire Perry O'Neill?

Keir Starmer has complained to the head of the civil service after a spat between political journalists and Downing Street. The row broke out after No. 10 insisted that only 'senior, specialist members of the lobby' could attend a briefing with Brexit negotiator David Frost. Several journalists decided to walk out of No. 10 as a result. But now Sir Keir has come to their rescue. The Labour leadership hopeful has written to Sir Mark Sedwill criticising Boris Johnson's media operation. In the letter, which carries Starmer's official campaign logo, the former Corbyn loyalist complained that briefing attendees 'should not be determined by political favouritism'.

It's been more than three years since the Brexit referendum, and we're only a day away from actually leaving the EU, but it appears that some of the UK's residents are still struggling to come to terms with the country's exit from the European Union. Today, the pollster YouGov released a survey of Remain voters in the UK, in which it asked which of the five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance) closest described how they feel about the EU referendum result. The options ranged from the rather sanguine, 'I have come to terms with the fact that the UK will leave the EU', to full-throated denial, asking the survey participants if they didn't believe 'people in the UK really wanted to leave the EU'.

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?