Steerpike

Picture the scene: it's Friday night at Chequers and the Prime Minister and her husband are letting their hair down. While relaxing by watching a quiz show and drinking a cup of tea, Philip May's flower knowledge falls short – and the Maybot is not impressed: Philip May: They are very nice chrysanthemums. Theresa May: They're not chrysanthemums. Philip: Dahlias! Why do I keep getting this wrong? Theresa: You keep calling dahlias, chrysanthemums Perhaps it's best if Philip sticks to his 'boy jobs'....

Remain crusader Gina Miller has repeatedly denied reports that she has plans to become a politician – or, more specifically, leader of the Liberal Democrats. With Miller due to speak at the beleaguered party's conference next week, it must be pure coincidence that today the campaigner has published a personal manifesto. She has said she wants to 'take back control of Brexit' by launching her manifesto to 'End the Chaos!' On the home page, Miller opines: 'I believe it is morally and democratically right to give people as much unbiased information as possible.' Unbiased being her advocacy for what she is calling 'Remain Plus': 'You can’t have a better tomorrow if you are thinking about yesterday all the time.

Yesterday, the LGBTQ+ society of Goldsmiths University, emitted a series of tweets defending the educational value and 'compassion' of Soviet Gulags. Writing to 'clarify what a gulag is', the group sought to demonstrate that to send a friend, family member, or stranger to the gulag 'is actually a compassionate, non-violent course of action'. It turns out that gulags – sometimes referred to as death camps – offered a chance to gain skills and 'move up the ranks'! The tweets have since been deleted and as of this morning, LGBTQ+ Gold 'are protecting our tweets temporarily for the sake of safeguarding'.

It’s been over a year since the last general election, but it looks like there are still some Labour MPs who are confused about their presence on the opposition benches. One such appears to be the shadow minister for women and equalities and Corbyn devotee, Dawn Butler. In an interview on TalkRadio this afternoon, it was put to the MP,  that Labour's manifesto can’t have been that brilliant if they went on to lose the general election. Butler responded: ‘Well actually, we didn’t lose. We didn’t win, but we didn’t lose the election’ https://twitter.com/talkRADIO/status/1039146683966398465 Mr S must have missed the brief reign of Prime Minister Jeremy Corbyn...

It's been a busy weekend for Boris Johnson. After the former foreign secretary came under fire over his private life, Johnson appeared to make life more difficult for himself by penning an article for the Mail on Sunday in which he suggested that Theresa May's Brexit strategy was akin to wearing a suicide vest. Various Tory MPs were quick to see red and vow to bring BoJo down. But Mr S can't help but ask: did Johnson's strategy go to plan after all? Back in 2013, he used a Telegraph article to reveal a great trick he had learned from an Australian friend (AKA Lynton Crosby): the dead cat strategy.

In August, this author teased Dalibor Rohac, who wrote in the Washington Post: ‘Theresa May is the world’s most underrated leader.’ Since, Mr S has given it some thought, and sends his apologies. Why? Because Rohac was right – Mrs May is a ‘genius’. In just two months, she has brought unity to Western politics. Everyone hates the Chequers agreement. Since the plan was agreed in July, reams of political figures have spoken out against it. This is Steerpike’s encyclopedia of enmity; a record of those who have denounced May’s proposed negotiating strategy.

Will Theresa May’s troubles ever end? Jacob Rees-Mogg has put the PM under more pressure today, telling LBC that he would have preferred Boris Johnson lead negotiations with the EU. The ERG Chair said: ‘Two years ago, in the Conservative Party leadership campaign, I supported Boris Johnson, because I thought he would deliver Brexit extraordinarily well. I haven’t seen anything that would cause me to change my mind on that. I think that had he become Prime Minister, we would have negotiated from a greater position of strength, and would be heading towards a clearer, cleaner Brexit, rather than the muddle of Chequers.

First lunch, now Christmas cards. When will Dominic Raab liven up a bit? The Brexit Secretary appeared alongside Oliver Robbins before the European Scrutiny Committee today. A lot has been made of the pair’s relationship, particularly after the Prime Minister announced in July that Raab would be ‘deputising’ for her. Robbins, meanwhile, reports directly to May as her Europe Advisor. Labour MP Kate Hoey was keen to get to the bottom of it, asking a crucial question: ‘Do you think you’ll be sending each other Christmas cards, you and Mr Robbins?’ The MP for Esher and Walton replied: ‘We have got a good professional and personal relationship.

Jeremy Corbyn is a man of peace with an unfortunate tendency to find himself in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong wreath – when it comes to anti-Semitism. Just last week it emerged that the Labour leader once claimed that Israel’s Prime Minister and other leading politicians compete to see 'who can kill the most' people in Palestine. Only Corbyn seems to be more relaxed about leaders who talk up killing Israelis and Americans. In the spring of 2004, the Labour leader – then a lowly backbencher – visited Palestine. It was a rather curious time for a visit given that after a series of assassinations of Hamas leaders, the mood was particularly febrile and Western visitors were thin on the ground. https://youtu.be/4vtV2yuqWTg?