Steerpike

It’s fair to say that it's been a tough couple of weeks for Theresa May. As the Brexit negotiations have stalled and her Chequers plan crumbles before her eyes, the PM could be forgiven for deciding that she's had her fill of leading the country and packing up her bags and going. No 10 certainly gave the impression that's she's had enough this morning. Parked squarely outside the Prime Minister's residence was this moving van: https://twitter.com/RichardBurdenMP/status/1052843824131780608 Then again, perhaps it was sent by her enemies hoping for her premature eviction?

Ever since the Brexit referendum, it’s been a fact of British political life that the most important decisions, that will have the profoundest impact on society, will not be decided by politicians, but by the people. Therefore it made perfect sense when politicians questioned Westminster’s favourite curry house’s decision to update its menu, that the proposed menu change be put to a referendum. Sparks flew at the Kennington Tandoori – famous for delivering David Cameron's final meal at No 10 – earlier this month after the restaurant updated its classics in the name of a street food revolution. Was this still a safe space for Parliamentarians?

It's been a curious day in Parliament after Labour MPs en masse came to John Bercow's defence amid a damning report into bullying in Parliament. Despite the report concluding that the Speaker is among those who should consider their position, numerous Labour MPs have said that he should stay in place. It seems that treating employees well pales in comparison to having a chair sympathetic to your party's Brexit opposition. The majority of Labour MPs (see Steerpike's full roll call of shame) have been vague when it comes to their real intentions. However, in an interview with the BBC, Margaret Beckett has broken rank and offered an honest explanation as to why she and her colleagues want Bercow to stay in place: Brexit – which apparently 'trumps' bullying.

Today, Theresa May stood before the Commons to update MPs on the state of the Brexit process. At this critical juncture in the negotiations and in her career, the Prime Minister tried to convey a solemn and statesmanlike appearance as she spoke about her dealings with the European Union. Unfortunately for her, the statesmanlike approach probably wasn’t helped by some rather on the nose heckling from the Labour benches. As May outlined the roadblocks she faced in Europe: 'But Mr Speaker, two problems remain' One cheeky Labour MP shouted: 'Boris!'  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-8xVvlLiIM Judging by the ashen faces on the Conservative front benches, it seems like May thinks the Boris joke is wearing thin.

No one has their finger on the pulse in the House of Commons like the government’s chief whip. To make sure every bill gets through parliament unscathed, the whip has to understand exactly how every MP in the party plans to vote, what they're thinking about the government - and work out how they can get rebellious MPs to change their minds. But it looks like Theresa May’s chief whip Julian Smith has drawn up the drawbridge tonight. The man in charge of relations with backbenchers might just have had enough of talking with his own MPs. The government enforcer posted this picture (without caption) on social media at 9 p.m. tonight: https://twitter.com/JulianSmithUK/status/1051567081177698310 What possibly could the whip be receiving this many calls about on a Sunday night?

Oh dear. This year's Labour conference was notable for the fact that the big dispute was not between the moderates and the Corbynistas but instead the trade unions and Momentum. With the majority of Labour moderates now resigned to defeat on the direction of the party, it's fallen to the various Corbynista hard left factions to continue the internal fight. So, Mr S was intrigued to learn of the latest Left-on-Left action. The elections are coming up for places on National Constitutional Committee – this is Labour’s highest internal body and members of which have the power of expulsion. It follows that who ever is on it with have a sizeable say on how the party handles allegations of anti-Semitism regarding members.

Labour frontbenchers are no strangers to getting their numbers in a muddle, but Mr S. would still expect better from the shadow treasury minister. Anneliese Dodds has just popped up on Politics Live to talk about today's GDP figures. But when she was asked how much Britain's economy grew by in the last three months, she didn't know: Andrew Neil: How much did GDP grow in the 3 months to the end of September? Anneliese Dodds: Erm, I don't know that off the top of my head AN: Well you were just talking about it, you should know that. Well I’ll tell you what it grew by 0.7 per cent. https://twitter.com/sw1a0aa/status/1049986891574124545?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Oh dear.

Much outrage this afternoon over the Tories' mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey. In a pamphlet for the Centre for Policy Studies think tank in 2005 on his experiences as a youth worker in West London, Bailey wrote that 'good looking' girls in the area 'tend to have been around'. Since those quotes were published by Buzzfeed, critics have been quick to call out Bailey over his sexist comments. But the question that's bugging Mr S is: why no similar outrage about what Bailey said about boys? In that same pamphlet, Bailey wrote that the 'cheeky' boys are those who are the most likely to have 'been around': 'I say to the girls that boys you like – all the cheeky ones – who are quite clever and all the rest of it. They are probably the ones that have been around.