Steerpike

The Tories are reeling after a dismal performance in the local elections overnight and things aren't getting any better for Theresa May today. The Prime Minister has just taken to her feet at the Welsh Conservative conference but as she did so she was shouted down by a heckler calling for her to go: 'Why don't you resign? We don't want you' Oh dear. Still, this isn't the worst thing that has happened to May when she has delivered a Tory conference speech...

Voters have been heading to the polls for the local elections today, as a long and gruelling campaign for the two main parties is wrapping up. Activists have been touring the doorsteps issuing heartfelt promises to repair potholes and collect bins faster. It’s been a familiar script – the Tories accuse Labour of waste, and Labour accuse the Tories of cutting services. Something that’s been conspicuously absent though, is any mention of the two main parties' leaders. Mr S was curious to see how prominent Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn were featuring in the campaign literature in this election, but after a search of over 50 randomly selected election leaflets, failed to find a single mention of either of them over the past two months.

Theresa May once said that 'no deal is better than a bad deal', but did she really mean it? The Prime Minister was asked to clarify those comments in front of MPs this afternoon. May said that while she stuck by what she said at Lancaster House in January 2017, she was actually 'talking in the abstract': 'I stand by the references I have made in the past, that 'no deal is better than a bad deal', but I happen to think we have a good deal. When I first made that reference, I was talking in the abstract. We now are no longer talking in the abstract. We are talking against the background of a negotiated deal, hard-fought, which I believe is a good deal for the United Kingdom.' Mr Steerpike is glad that May has finally cleared that up. The Prime Minister didn't stop there though.

Today is a key crunch point for Labour, as the party rules on whether it will fully endorse a second Brexit referendum ahead of the EU elections next month. Until now, the party has been happy to stick with its tortuously worded conference Brexit policy, which both sides on the referendum debate have said backs their own position. But with election leaflets ready to print, the party has finally been forced to put its policy on paper. Already though, it appears the process is causing rifts within the party. The Mirror's Pippa Crerar reports that deputy leader Tom Watson, who backs a second Brexit vote, has just stormed out of a shadow cabinet meeting, after Labour's EU policy was displayed on a big television screen, rather than on paper.

The hunt is on within government to discover which individual leaked details of a meeting of the National Security Council on allowing Huawei to help build Britain's new 5G network to the press. With an inquiry under way, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt today announced that he would be happy to hand over his phone as part of the investigation. Still, should any government ministers or aides currently find themselves less enthusiastic about aiding the inquiry (and sweating it out that the net is closing in), perhaps they can find some relief in a column former No 10 aide Kate Perrior has penned for the Times. Perrior says that during her time working for the Prime Minister, she had to take part in three leak inquiries.

Although Jeremy Hunt is often depicted as a more statesman-like figure than his predecessor at the Foreign Office, the Foreign Secretary has had his fair share of gaffes. Not long into the brief, Hunt made headlines when he mistakenly identified his wife as Japanese when she is in fact Chinese. At Thursday's Press Gallery lunch, Hunt attempted to make light of the situation – insisting that his wife has since forgiven him for the slip. But will she forgive him for his latest error?

The European elections are shaping up to be a colourful affair with both the Brexit Party and pro-EU Change UK revealing a spate of new candidates this morning. Along with Jacob Rees-Mogg's sister Annunziata, libertarian Claire Fox will stand for Nigel Farage's party. Meanwhile on the Remain side, a member of a political dynasty has decided to try and win election as an MP for Change UK. Step forward Rachel Johnson. Johnson is to follow in the footsteps of her father Stanley and brothers Boris and Jo by entering the political arena. The writer has revealed she will stand as a European election candidate in the South West region for Change UK, set up by the Independent Group MPs.

In 2016, Labour's shadow justice secretary and Corbyn ally Richard Burgon was asked a rather simple question by Andrew Neil when he appeared on the Daily Politics. The show took place shortly after allegations were made in the Daily Mail that the MP has said 'Zionism is the enemy of peace'. As you would expect, in the midst of Labour's ongoing issues with the Jewish community, Burgon was therefore given the opportunity to correct the record by Neil, and asked if the reported remarks were correct. In response, Burgon shrugged off the accusations, replying at least three times when pressed that he 'didn't say that', 'didn't make those comments' and 'would not have said that.