Steerpike

Yesterday evening after winning her no confidence vote, Theresa May stood up in the House of Commons and offered to hold talks with opposition parties about the Brexit negotiations. Jeremy Corbyn (despite spending the day asking why May hadn't included Labour in the talks) declined the invitation, saying he would only meet May once she had ruled out a no-deal Brexit. Already that decision, which has left Labour open to accusations of pettiness, seems to be backfiring. Shadow International Trade Secretary Barry Gardiner was sent out on the broadcast round this morning to defend the Labour leader's decision.

Michael Gove ended the no confidence debate in the Commons by denouncing Jeremy Corbyn. But perhaps unsurprisingly his criticism of the Labour leader did not go down well with those on the opposite benches. His comments about Corbyn were shouted down by Labour MPs, who yelled 'shame on you'. Here's what Gove said to rile them up: 'If the leader of the opposition won't stand up against Putin when he attacks people in this country...if he will not stand up for this country when the critical national security questions are being asked, how can we possibly expect him to stand up for us in European negotiations?' Mr S thinks Gove might have a point...

After suffering what could be the largest Commons defeat in over a hundred years - far surpassing anyone's expectations, it's fair to say that Theresa May will not be happy with the way things went this evening. So she might take comfort in the fact that her deal did at least have one positive outcome: providing a small boost to the economy -  though probably not in the way she intended. In response to her Brexit deal being voted down by a massive margin, the pound briefly fell, and then rebounded sharply against the Euro and the Dollar, a clear sign that the uncertainty of the Brexit process was still preferable to her bad deal: Mr S expects we won't hear champagne corks popping in Number 10 at the news just yet...

It's no secret in Westminster that Philip Hammond’s idea of the best Brexit possible is one that keeps Britain close to the EU. The Chancellor spent the last year issuing dire prophecies about the impact of a hard Brexit and his Treasury forecasts have become infamous for spelling out the doom and gloom of no deal. But are Hammond’s Project Fear warnings catching on? Mr Steerpike can reveal, after the Treasury released documents under the Freedom of Information Act, that Hammond met with several business bigwigs last year, only for them to issue similarly dire Brexit assessments shortly afterwards.

At the end of last year Labour MP Fiona Onasanya was convicted of perverting the course of justice, after lying to police about a speeding charge. She has since been suspended from the Labour party but will remain the MP for Peterborough unless she is recalled or sentenced to longer than one year in jail. In response to the verdict, Onasanya had what we might call an unusual reaction. In messages to colleagues the MP compared her plight to that of Jesus and Moses and in a newspaper column, vowed to carry on fighting as an independent MP, promising to fight this 'botched Brexit deal': 'This is why I have continued to scrutinise this botched Brexit deal: a deal that does not take back control, nor provide industry, business, and left behind communities with confidence.

John Bercow ditched Parliamentary precedent when he allowed a vote to take place on Dominic Grieve's Brexit amendment yesterday. His decision caused uproar among Tory MPs, but Bercow defended the decision by saying that precedent didn't count for everything when it comes to setting the rules in the Commons. He told MPs: ‘I am not in the business of invoking precedent, nor am I under any obligation to do so. I think the hon. Gentleman will know that it is the long-established practice of this House that the Speaker in the Chair makes judgments upon the selection of amendments and that those judgments are not questioned by Members of the House. I am clear in my mind that I have taken the right course of action.

Britain’s foreign aid department was on the defensive this week, following a Mail on Sunday article casting scorn on the decision to spend £200 million in aid on Bangladesh, after the violent and possibly rigged spectacle of the country's election at the end of last year. In a blistering response, the Department for International Development (DfID), called out the Mail’s headline, which it said was ‘factually inaccurate’ and said that ‘No UK aid was given to the Government of Bangladesh, the Bangladeshi Election Commission or any Bangladeshi political parties for this election.’ But while it may be true that the department has not given money directly to the Bangladeshi government, has the department been disingenuous in its denial?

Will Straw hasn’t had much joy when it comes to politics. In 2015, Straw tried – and failed – to follow in his father’s footsteps by becoming a Labour MP, losing out to his Tory rival Jake Berry in Rossendale and Darwen. A year later, Straw’s luck hadn’t improved: in his role as executive director of Britain Stronger in Europe, he led the official Remain campaign to defeat in the EU referendum. But now, it seems, Straw may have finally found the recipe for winning. In an article in the Guardian under the headline ‘I was part of the remain campaign. Here’s how to win a people’s vote’, Straw offer some tips on how a People’s Vote can triumph if there is a second referendum. Mr S.

After months of controversy, James Graham’s new Brexit drama finally aired tonight, portraying the bitterly fought campaign to win the Brexit referendum. Defying the expectations of many, the show has been praised for its reasonably accurate portrayal of events, and for striking a balanced tone between Leavers and Remainers. But as is normal when a drama is based on real-life, as the closing credits rolled viewers could easily be left wondering: how much of what took place was real, and how much was wrong, exaggerated or distorted?

With Theresa May promising MPs that she will not lead the party into another election (so long as it's not imminent), the race is on to be her successor. Numerous ministers have been accused of being on manouvres in recent weeks – and playing up to the Tory base. One such politician is Jeremy Hunt. The Foreign Secretary has been burnishing his newfound Brexiteer credentials of late – something that ought to appeal to the eurosceptic Tory membership. On a trip to Singapore, Hunt heaped praise on the country’s economic model, and suggested that Britain could learn lessons from it after 29 March. Hunt's rivals, meanwhile, are quick to snipe that such efforts are insincere given that he used to be Remain.