Steerpike

The Tory leadership race is turning nasty. And not for the first time, it's Michael Gove who is taking a pop at Boris Johnson. After a disastrous weekend for Gove that was overshadowed by revelations of drug-taking, Gove has just attempted to start afresh at his campaign launch. Gove also used his speech to take a shot at Boris. Here is his message to his rival: 'If I get through – which I am sure I will actually – to the final two against Mr Johnson, this is what I will say to him: Mr Johnson, whatever you do, don't pull out. I know you have before and I know you may not believe in your heart that you can do it, but the Conservative party membership deserve a choice. So let's have a proper race' Gone are the days of Gove calling his old pal Boris....

The Tory leadership race is on and while it can be hard to keep track of the growing number of candidates entering the race, it is even trickier to stay on top of the lurid confessions of wrongdoing made by those who want to be PM. To help out, here is Mr S's full and comprehensive guide to the confessions of a Tory leadership hopeful: Michael Gove The environment secretary was the latest top Tory to confess to mischief yesterday, admitting that he took cocaine several times when he was a young journalist. Gove said he 'deeply regrets' doing so and that his 'mistake' should not be held against him.

The Tory leadership race has taken on a new turn this weekend with the Daily Mail splashing on Michael Gove's cocaine confession. The Environment Secretary tells the paper that he took the 'drugs on several occasions at social events more than 20 years ago'. At the time, Gove was working as a journalist. Of the experience, he says: 'It was a mistake. I look back and I think, I wish I hadn’t done that.' Gove goes on to say that he doesn't think this should rule him out of the leadership race: 'I don’t believe that past mistakes disqualify you.' The admission comes ahead of the publication of a book about Gove by Owen Bennett – Michael Gove: A Man in a Hurry. So, how did it come to pass?

Peterborough's new Labour MP has only just been elected but already she is finding herself embroiled in controversy. Lisa Forbes was taken to task in the early hours of this morning over a revelation that she once liked a Facebook post saying that Theresa May had a 'Zionist Slave Master's agenda'. Here is what she had to say in response: 'I don't have an anti-Semitic bone in my body.... It was engaging in posts in error and for that I'm deeply sorry.' Forbes also once signed a letter calling on Labour not to adopt the full IHRC definition of anti-Semitism. It now seems she has changed her tune: 'At the time there was a lot of concern about that definition.

It's fair to say that recent campaigns and elections haven't been kind to Ukip. First, the party fell apart and crumbled following the EU referendum campaign, and now it's suffering the indignity of seeing Nigel Farage's newly formed Brexit party surge in the polls, while its own organisation is taken over by YouTube stars. But the party has been made to suffer another embarrassment in the Peterbrough by-election tomorrow. The Ukip candidate for Peterborough, John Whitby, tells Mr S that Labour and the other political parties are giving him a hard time because he lives over the river past the constituency boundary, and so can't vote for himself in the election tomorrow. Mr S can see why he's upset. After all, when you're polling this low, every vote really does count...

If it wasn't already, Change UK is now surely on its last legs. Six of the party's MPs – including leader Heidi Allen – have quit. But those left behind still remain defiant. In a Sky News interview, Mike Gapes – who defected from Labour earlier this year – said the party was alive and kicking. He then compared Change UK to an 'acorn' that could grow into a 'big tree': Kay Burley: Mike, you've lost your party, you're going to lose your seat at the next election. You knew you would, which is why you didn't go for a by-election...Now, half of the party that you set up has left you. It's all over. Mike Gapes: Politics is a long haul. The fact is, polls come up and go down. British politics needs a change, and those of (us)...

Sam Gyimah, the former Minister for Universities who quit in protest at Theresa May’s deal, has become the thirteenth Conservative leadership candidate, announcing his decision live on air on Sky today. When asked by Niall Paterson if he would like to be the next Conservative leader, Gyimah replied "Well, yes. I will be joining the contest to be the next Conservative leader and prime minister to broaden the race." He wishes to be the champion of that cause the Tory members are crying out for: a second referendum. "There is a wide range of candidates out there, but there is a very narrow view on Brexit being discussed” he said.

Will anything end Nigel Farage's winning streak? The Brexiteer famously walked into a Ladbrokes in June 2016 and placed a £1,000 bet on Leave winning the EU referendum campaign – a decision that pocketed him a tidy £2,500 sum. In April, ahead of the European parliament elections, the Brexit party leader decided to chance his arm once again, revealing that he had placed a £1,000 bet at 3/1 on the Brexit party winning the most seats in the European parliament. And, as the results on Sunday night showed, it was yet another act of foresight as his party came top in the UK with 29 seats, 13 ahead of the second placed Lib Dems. All of which would leave the Brexit party leader £3,000 better off at the end of the night.

Alastair Campbell has been something of a Labour party fixture for the last twenty years – but not any longer. Blair's former spin doctor has just been given the boot from the party for revealing that he voted Lib Dem at the European elections. Campbell said he was 'sad' and 'disappointed' to get an email from Labour expelling him from the party: 'I am and always will be Labour. I voted Lib Dem, without advance publicity, to try to persuade Labour to do right thing for country/party. In light of appeal, I won't be doing media on this. But hard not to point out difference in the way anti-Semitism cases have been handled.