Steerpike

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.

As tensions in Westminster continue to grow over Brexit, it's become commonplace for politicians to use language that would have been unheard of in the past. Yet, even in these febrile times, the Labour politician David Lammy managed to go a step further earlier this month when he compared the ERG faction of the Tories to the Nazi party, during a speech at a People's Vote rally. But if anyone was hoping that the MP had toned down his language since his last intervention, they would have been disappointed by his remarkable appearance on Andrew Marr this morning. When Marr showed the Labour politician a clip of his recent speech,  and asked if this was acceptable language to use, Lammy doubled down, saying: 'Andrew, I would say that wasn't strong enough.

Nigel Farage announced the launch of his new Brexit party today, in a metal finishing factory in Longford, Coventry. As you’d expect, Farage channeled the anger many Leave voters are feeling across the country in his speech. He predicted that the Brexit party would come first in the upcoming European Parliament elections and said he had already put down a £1,000 bet on this outcome. But it was his headline choice of candidate for these elections that caused surprise in the room. Saying that he had received over 1,000 applications from people hoping to become MEPs, he introduced one of the first to be selected: Annunziata Rees-Mogg, the journalist and sister of the Conservative MP for North East Somerset, Jacob.

In November last year, a row kicked off when the government asked the philosopher Roger Scruton to chair the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, which will investigate the beauty of architecture in the UK. The 75-year-old philosopher was criticised by opposition MPs in the Commons for remarks he had made in the past about homosexuality, Islamophobia and alleged anti-Semitism. Now, fresh scrutiny has been applied to the government's decision once again, after Scruton gave an interview in the New Statesman in which he repeated some of his more controversial remarks. The government have since axed Scruton as an advisor. However, many are still questioning why Scruton was appointed to the position in the first place, given that many of his views have long been public.

Theresa May has suffered a record number of ministerial resignations since the day she walked into Number 10, but if she was hoping the worst was over, it appears that collective responsibility may still crumble away altogether. This morning it was Huw Merriman, the PPS of Philip Hammond, who threw down the gauntlet, when he dared the Prime Minister to sack him for speaking at a People's Vote rally. On Radio 4 this morning, the MP explained his frustration that he had been given a free vote on, and supported, a People's Vote in parliament during the indicative vote process, but if he spoke in support of the issue he would be breaking collective responsibility.

As Theresa May reaffirmed her commitment to strike a softer Brexit deal with Labour over the weekend, and Yvette Cooper's bill attempting to block no-deal Brexit passes through the Lords, leading Brexiteers stepped up their war against Theresa May. This afternoon ERG member Mark Francois, in a strongly worded letter to Graham Brady, called for 'indicative votes' of no confidence in the Prime Minister. Joining him was fellow Eurosceptic Andrew Bridgen, who on Politics Live said 'Theresa May needs to go and go now.' Less impressed with the proclamation though was Times columnist Daniel Finkelstein, who pointed out that after a failed bid to oust May in December, the ERG didn't have the ability to remove her or stop a no-deal Brexit.