Steerpike

As Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Liz Truss has shown herself unafraid to say what she thinks. Whether it's the need to defend Conservative values, rallying against Michael Gove's wood-burning stove ban or poking fun at her current party's Brexit secretary related woes. On Monday night, Truss gave a speech to female entrepreneurs and founders in 11 Downing Street. In it, Truss spoke in defence of free markets, the need for a party to appeal to Generation Z and pointed out that the majority of venture capital money in the UK was given to all-male teams and compared that to the idea of a Bullingdon Club infused Conservative government – something that she said belongs in the past: 'I am the number one believer in free markets.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the left's rising political star. The 29-year-old is the youngest women ever to serve in the US Congress and her fan base is growing quickly online, so it's no surprise that Jeremy Corbyn wants to team up. But the Labour leader's cosy phone call with the Democrat has somewhat backfired. Corbyn said yesterday that it was 'great to speak' to Ocasio-Cortez, who returned the favour by tweeting that it 'was an honour to share such a lovely and wide-reaching conversation with you'. This seemed to be the start of great things, until a follower of Ocasio-Cortez pointed out Labour's ongoing troubles with anti-Semitism: Oh dear. It was good while it lasted...

When was the last time an EU leader gave an interview to British TV to talk about Brexit? If you're scratching your head to remember, you're not the only one. Andrew Marr raised just this point on his programme this morning, calling out the likes of Donald Tusk, Michel Barnier and Jean-Claude Juncker for their persistent failure to appear on his programme. Here's what Marr had to say: I just want to say one thing about our line-up of interviews. We are at a moment where negotiations with Brussels are absolutely critical and it has been a long moment. And week after week I get the chance to cross question British ministers and opposition politicians. And week after week, we ask the likes of Donald Tusk, Michel Barnier and Jean-Claude Juncker to answer questions as well.

Oh dear. It's been a rollercoaster for the European Research Group of late. Once heralded as the Machiavellis of Brexit, the group of backbench Eurosceptics have lately become the subject of some mockery thanks to their botched attempts to oust Theresa May as Prime Minister. However, things appeared to turn in their favour again this week when the group – led by Jacob Rees-Mogg – managed to get May to change her Brexit strategy – and confirm that she wished to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement. Alas Mr S suspects the turn of John Whittingdale on Channel 4 news in the aftermath will have done little to cement an image of professionalism.

After another long day discussing Brexit in the House of Commons, it was the job of the Brexit secretary, Stephen Barclay, to finally close the debate with a rousing speech ahead of the votes on several amendments to the Prime Minister's motion. Barclay has not exactly, to put it mildly, made a huge impact since he took over the job from Dominic Raab in November last year, and most members of the public would struggle to pick him out of a police line-up. But even he might be disappointed by the reception his speech in the Commons received from his Conservative colleagues. Along with various looks of pained agony and boredom, Mr Steerpike spied that Nick Boles (the Tory MP pushing for Norway Plus) even managed to rest his eyes while the secretary of state was speaking: https://www.

Did Jeremy Corbyn get out of the wrong side of bed this morning? Mr S. only asks because the Labour leader was somewhat short of words when he was asked whether his party would or wouldn't be backing Yvette Cooper's key Brexit amendment in the Commons tomorrow. Here's how he greeted a BBC journalist who asked him that as he left his house  arlier today: https://twitter.com/BBCNormanS/status/1089837990757703680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Oh dear...

Once upon a time Venezuela was talked up by British socialists – from John McDonnell to Richard Burgon – as an example of a better way. As Jeremy Corbyn put it back in 2013: 'Chavez showed us that there is a different and better way of doing things. It’s called socialism, it’s called social justice and it’s something that Venezuela has made a big step towards.’ Only ever since there were mass food shortages and toilet paper rations – with 82pc of households living in poverty – the majority of Corbynistas have gone a little quiet on the subject.

After spending months insisting that there could never possibly be a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, the Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar raised eyebrows this afternoon when he suggested that Ireland may have to send troops to the border if there is a no-deal Brexit. The move comes as the EU's own position on the border has wavered in recent days, with Michel Barnier offering contradicting statements about whether the EU would have to check goods in Ireland if Britain left without a deal. Speaking at Davos, Varadkar insisted that if a hard Brexit took place, as well as cameras and physical infrastructure, the border would also need 'people in uniform' and an 'army presence to back it up.

From an outside view, one could be forgiven for thinking now is a good time for academies in the UK. Figures show more than half of England’s children are now educated in academies – state schools run by independent charitable trusts but funded and overseen by central government – while one such academy Brampton Manor, in east London, recently made headlines thanks to 41 of its students winning offers from Oxbridge. However, not everyone agrees. Under Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour party is dead set against academies – its official policy is to halt the creation of any new academies or free schools should the party takes power.