Steerpike

Leo Varadkar certainly talks tough when it comes to Brexit, but is the Irish PM preparing to back down? Mr S. only asks because the Taoiseach conceded this morning that he is 'willing to compromise' over Brexit. This marks something of a change from his earlier comments in which he has repeatedly dismissed alternatives to the backstop, or regulatory alignment across the Irish border. Here is what Varadkar said on RTE today:  'The objective is to avoid the emergence of a hard border between north and south as a result of Brexit. What I care about is achieving those objectives and I am willing to compromise providing those objectives are achieved. And those objectives are that Brexit should not lead to the emergence of a hard border between north and south.

It's the end of an era tonight as This Week goes out for the very last time. The BBC's late-night politics show has built up a cult following since it first aired in 2003. A host of politicians, from Diane Abbott and Jacob Rees-Mogg, to Charles Kennedy and Ken Livingstone have all appeared. Singer Pete Doherty, Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie and comedian Stewart Lee have also all popped up. The show's presenter Andrew Neil has been there from the beginning. Here is Mr S's pick of the seven most memorable moments from the show: Red Ken comes unstuck: Ken Livingstone is well known for talking about Hitler. But it was on the subject of Venezuela that the former London mayor came unstuck when he appeared on This Week earlier this year.

There is no love lost between Dominic Grieve and his local Tory party association, but Mr S. thinks that the MP for Beaconsfield's latest comments will hardly help matters. At an event in London, Grieve said there had been a 'Talibanisation' of the Tory party. He also said that a fear of being deselected was putting Tory MPs off from speaking out against a no-deal Brexit: 'There has been a sort of Talibanisation of sections of the Conservative party grassroots membership with some vociferous minorities – but often capable of dominating meetings coming along and trying to get rid of MPs interestingly enough who've been totally loyal.

Brexit has turned into a 'mis-selling scandal', according to Tom Baldwin from the People's Vote campaign, who popped up on Newsnight last night to talk about the imminent danger of a no-deal Brexit. Baldwin was on the programme alongside Rod Liddle. And – somewhat unsurprisingly – it's safe to say that the pair didn't see eye-to-eye on Brexit. Here is how their exchange unfolded: Rod Liddle: What do you call it? What's the phrase you give to the people's vote these days? Of course, it's the people's vote because the people who voted the first time... Tom Baldwin: No, the people voted last time as well. But the people have been let down. Let the people decide this. RL: Brexit hasn't been the problem.

Jeremy Hunt has a lot in common with Theresa May. As Andrew Neil pointed out in his interview with the foreign secretary tonight, both are Tory technocrats. And both backed May's Brexit deal three times. So is Jeremy Hunt just 'Theresa in trousers'? 'Certainly not,' according to Hunt, who said that while he was loyal to May it was now time for a new approach. Part of that new approach involves Hunt switching to a no-deal Brexit strategy if no Brexit progress is made by the end of September. Here is how Hunt explained that approach in a tetchy interview: https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1149745145044094977?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw   AN: Back to Brexit.

The Tory leadership contest reaches its high point tonight as Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt sit down for one-on-one interviews with Andrew Neil. But even if the pair manage to avoid any slip-ups, the race for No.10 has so far produced plenty of gaffes. As this year’s contest reaches its final stages, Mr S. lists his favourites blunders so far: Rory Stewart's phone gaffe: Rory Stewart made waves with his unorthodox campaign, a back-to-basics pitch that showed up his slicker but less authentic rivals. This facade came crashing down when Stewart tweeted a video of him in Kew Gardens. Eagle-eyed followers noticed something bizarre: while Stewart’s arm was moving around, the camera stayed completely still.

You may have struggled to keep up with all the twists and turns of the group of independent MPs who left Labour and the Conservatives to form their own political party. First, Heidi Allen, Chuka Umunna and co. became the 'Independent Group', which was hastily renamed 'Change UK'. After several more name changes, Change UK then split after the European elections, with half its MPs becoming independent MPs, and the other half (led by Anna Soubry) becoming 'The Independent Group for Change’. If that wasn't confusing enough, Mr S is sorry to say that another independent group has entered the fray today.

Tonight, ITV hosted the first head-to-head debate between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt as they vie to become the next Prime Minister, and leader of the Conservative Party. And while Jeremy Hunt may initially have entered the race as the candidate least likely to engage in blue-on-blue warfare, it didn't take long for the two candidates to begin tearing into each other on live TV. In one exchange, the pair clashed over no deal and whether Britain would actually leave the EU on 31 October. Remarkably, Hunt accused Johnson of 'peddling optimism' with his plan to take Brexit out by Halloween, saying that: 'Being prime minister is about telling people what they need to hear, not just what they want to hear. And the difference between you and me, is that you are peddling optimism...