Steerpike

Camaraderie seems to be in short supply in Peterborough this week, ahead of the by-election tomorrow. In the centre of the city, a Brexit party activist cheerfully tells Mr S that he has barely seen the other parties knocking on doors and handing out flyers around the city. But he did run into the Labour party on one street, and suggested they share their flyers and put both sets through the door to save time. Needless to say, Labour weren't impressed, and didn't take up his offer. Not coming across your opponents seems to be a familiar theme here. Activists from all the parties are very keen to tell Mr S how much work they are doing, and how little they see the other parties' candidates and activists on the doorsteps.

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.

There's a lot of soul-searching in the Labour party after Sunday's abysmal results in the European elections. On Monday, Corbynista commentator Paul Mason was one of the first out of the blocks, with a lengthy autopsy of Labour's electoral failure. He placed the blame squarely on Corbyn's Brexit-leaning advisors, and urged those responsible to be fired. 'Three point plan for Labour. 1. A members ballot on Remain/Reform as the new line. 2. Sack the officials responsible for this fiasco. 3. Defend Corbyn against the inevitable coup. More from me tomorrow - sign our petition here https://www.left2030.org/petition/ ' https://twitter.com/MarkDiStef/status/1132940829335654400 Unsurprisingly, the column didn't go down well in all quarters of the hard left.

Tonight was a vital night for the fledgling Remain party Change UK. After the resurgence of the Lib Dems in the local elections, Chuka Umunna and Heidi Allen's party had to fight to justify its existence, and prove that it wasn't simply another party which was splitting the Remain vote. Alas, it appears that that party hasn't even managed to meet its own low expectations tonight - it may be that it can't even muster enough votes to justify going into a coalition with the Lib Dems at the next general election. Here are five reasons that suggest tonight could mean the end of Change UK: Number of seats: 0 As of writing, Change UK have failed to get a single seat across the entirety of the UK. Overall the party has received only 3.