Steerpike

This is the explosive moment former Labour MP Ian Austin urges voters to back Boris Johnson. Austin, who announced that he was standing down as MP for Dudley North, told the Today programme that Corbyn is 'completely unfit to lead our country'. He said that despite being a Labour party member since he was a teenager, he was urging voters to back the Tories on 12 December: 'I have got to be honest. The country faces a big choice. There are only two people who can be prime minister on December 13th: Jeremy Corbyn or Boris Johnson.

Oh dear. It's safe to say the Conservative party's election campaign has not got off to the best start. On the day of the official launch, the Tories have had a cabinet minister resign and a row over who is to blame for the Grenfell fire drag on. Now, they can add to that list: a minister unsure whether Jeremy Corbyn would have wealthy people shot or not. Appearing on the Andrew Neil show on Wednesday night, the Business Minister struggled when the BBC interviewer brought up Boris Johnson's comments comparing Jeremy Corbyn to Stalin on the grounds that he and his supporters hates wealth and aspiration so much that they 'point their fingers at individuals with a relish and a vindictiveness not seen since Stalin persecuted the kulaks'.

Oh dear. Andrew Bridgen is a friend of Jacob Rees-Mogg, but it's unlikely the Tory MP will be thanking his colleague for his latest intervention. Bridgen attempted to defend his chum on BBC's PM programme just now following a furious reaction to Rees-Mogg's comments about the Grenfell fire tragedy. Bridgen said that Rees-Mogg's remarks were 'uncharacteristically clumsy'. He was then asked: Evan Davis: 'Do you think he meant to say that he thought he would not have stayed put?' Andrew Bridgen: 'That's what he meant to say. That's what he meant to say.' ED: 'But in a way that is exactly what people object to, because he is, in effect, saying: I wouldn't have died because I would have been cleverer than the people who took the fire brigade's advice.

When Tory MPs look for reasons to be optimistic about the incoming election, one thing they point to is the fact that this time around Nick Timothy is not involved. Theresa May's former aide is widely blamed within the Conservative party for the 2017 manifesto which saw the Tories shed popularity over the so-called dementia tax. However, those MPs looking ahead to a Timothy-free campaign may need to think again. ConservativeHome reports that Timothy is in the final three to be the Tory candidate for Meriden – a safe seat with a majority of 19,198. Should Timothy succeed, he will have reason to be optimistic.

Could Donald Trump help Boris Johnson stave off the threat of the Brexit party and enable the Tories to win the snap election? He certainly seems to be doing his best to help out the PM. https://twitter.com/LBC/status/1189955162602909696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Nigel Farage has interviewed Donald Trump for his radio phone-in show on LBC tonight and the president urged the Brexit party leader to work with Boris Johnson. Trump said Boris is a  'fantastic man' and is the 'exact right guy for the times'. He then added: 'I know that you and him will end up doing something that could be terrific. If you and he get together it's an unstoppable force.

Jess Phillips's frustration at Britain's trains is a feeling plenty of commuters can relate to. But Mr S isn't so sure the MP for Birmingham Yardley is right to blame Boris Johnson for the current misery at Euston – or for spoiling her son's birthday: The problems at Euston are caused by a broken down train that is blocking the line in and out of London, according to Virgin Trains. It's possible to blame the PM for plenty of things, but Mr S isn't sure this is one of them...

At long last, it looks like there's going to be a general election to break the Brexit deadlock. The House of Commons has voted to hold an election on 12 December, after MPs on both sides of the political aisle backed a one-line government bill, which now moves on to the House of Lords. But rather unfortunately, one MP did not exactly react to the news that Parliament would be dissolved for a Christmas contest with good grace. Shortly after the vote, the former Conservative MP Anna Soubry used a point of order to put her bizarre spin on the Commons' decision. The 'Change UK – The Independent Group' MP began by saying that, despite just voting by 438 to 20 for a general election, the House did not actually want one: 'I know it is uncomfortable sometimes to speak truth to power.

It's all out chaos at the People's Vote campaign today, after the outgoing chairman of Open Britain (one of the campaign's five organisations) Roland Rudd attempted to fire the group's head of communications, Tom Baldwin, and its director, James McGrory. In their place, Rudd wished to appoint Patrick Heneghan, the former head of campaigns for the Labour party. Unfortunately, the wheels quickly came off Rudd's attempted coup. Baldwin took to the airwaves this morning to insist that Rudd couldn't fire him, and said he would travel in to work this morning. While former New Labour spinner and Remain activist Alastair Campbell launched his own attack on Rudd's move, which he said was a 'deliberate act of sabotage'.

When Rory Stewart declared his candidacy for the London mayor, there was some concern in CCHQ that the former Conservative MP could eat into Tory candidate Shaun Bailey's vote share. Stewart has been keen to pitch himself as an outward looking politician in touch with modern Britain. While there's still some way to go to polling night, the initial signs suggest that Stewart's own efforts will be no walk in the park. Stewart has found himself under criticism after he described three East London men he met back when he was campaigning to be the next leader of the Conservatives as 'minor gangsters'. https://twitter.com/RoryStewartUK/status/1137811697027170309?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Stewart attempted to speak to the group as part of his trademark campaigning walks.