Steerpike

While the likes of Owen Jones are finally realising that it might not be a wise idea to back Peter Willsman following his rant about anti-Semitism, the same can’t be said for all prominent Corbyn supporters. Step forward, Chris Williamson. The Labour MP is doubling down on his endorsement for Willsman, in defiance of calls from Momentum for Willsman to resign from Labour's National Executive Committee. In a show of solidarity, Williamson has updated his Twitter biography to ‘JC9’ – a reference to Willsman’s election to the NEC. But he hasn't stopped there.

Labour’s anti-Semitism problem isn’t going away. But it seems Jeremy Corbyn is hoping it will do. When the Labour leader was asked whether he was the man to patch things up between the Jewish community and the party, Corbyn was somewhat lost for words: Reporter: 'Are relations between the Labour leadership and the British Jewish community broken beyond repair? ...Can you fix the relationship, Mr Corbyn?' Jeremy Corbyn: 'Good morning, nice to see you. Goodbye…Can you close the window please.' https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1024649953782767618?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Mr S. thinks this is hardly the best way for Corbyn to reassure people that he is taking the problem seriously...

With Theresa May's Chequers proposal unpopular across the board, there are many politicians and would-be politicians now asking themselves: could I do a better job? For quite a lot of these people, the answer is 'yes'. However, this afternoon Leave.EU's Arron Banks offered a reminder that sometimes the basics are harder than they look. The Brexit campaigner took to social media to correct Chuka Umunna for sharing a graph detailing growth in G7 countries. Banks's complaint? Canada, the USA and Japan aren't in the G7. The problem? They are. https://twitter.com/Arron_banks/status/1024274947672342530 Probably for the best that it was Vote Leave rather than Banks's Leave.EU won the official Leave campaign designation in the EU referendum campaign...

Jeremy Hunt might have some explaining to do when he gets home from his trip to China. The Foreign Secretary has been in Beijing drumming up trade for Britain, but during discussions with his Chinese counterparts he accidentally referred to his Chinese wife as Japanese: 'Erm, my wife is Japanese. My wife is Chinese, sorry. That is a terrible mistake to make' Oh dear...

With characteristic verve, former Vote Leave campaign chief Dominic Cummings has taken to his blog to brand the latest DCMS select committee report ‘fake news from the fake news committee.’ But has the high priest of fighting fake news being practising what he preaches when it comes to spreading false information? Mr S has cause for concern. Addressing the committee, he quotes the line ‘The truth? You can’t handle the truth!’ from the 90s film classic A Few Good Men, which he attributes to Tom Cruise. Clearly Cummings’ film knowledge is not up to scratch, while Cruise did star in the film, the quote itself was said by his co-star Jack Nicholson. Happily, Cummings has since issued an apology: [Pps.

Last month Mr Steerpike revealed that a group of Labour MPs had formed a special WhatsApp group to secretly liaise with one another. The topic? Rather than anti-Corbynista plots, Lucy Powell, Jess Phillips and Stella Creasy message one another about Love Island – the reality show in which young Brits try and find love. Happily, the trio have now gone public with their passion. With recess upon us, the super fandom has moved up a gear – the Labour MPs appeared on This Morning to discuss the ITV2 show, and it’s fair to say, were delighted to receive their own personalised Love Island water bottles. https://twitter.com/thismorning/status/1022063492717785089 Not as though there's much else going on right now...

A poll earlier this year found that almost two-thirds of the British public believe Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party has a problem with racism or religious prejudice. However, up until now Mr S hadn't thought John McDonnell was one of them. Speaking on the Today programme this morning, the Shadow Chancellor attempted to rebuff suggestions that his party had an anti-Semitism problem. Only it didn't go quite to plan thanks to a slip of the tongue: ‘Let me put this message out to anyone: we are a party that’s anti-racist and anti-Semitist... sorry... we're against anti-Semitism.' Freudian slip?

Following the resignation of David Davis, Brexiteers and Remainers alike have been left wondering how Brexit is going, and more importantly, who is really in charge of the negotiations with the EU. Today they got their chance to find out, as new Brexit secretary Dominic Raab and Number 10’s widely-loathed Brexit guru Olly Robbins were grilled by the Exiting the European Union select committee. Only things soon took a turn for the dramatic when mid session the government published a statement from the Prime Minister announcing that she will now ‘lead the negotiations with the European Union’ and Dominic Raab's department will be stripped of its role in the negotiations with that duty being entirely shifted to the Cabinet Office's Europe unit.

The Maybot is back. The Prime Minister has just been doing a Q and A with workers in Newcastle when she was asked how she likes to unwind. Here's what she had to say: 'There are several things I like to do. I like walking...I enjoy cooking, which has a benefit because you get to eat it as well as make it. I have over 150 cookbooks, so I spend quite a lot of time looking at cookbooks. And...I quite like watching NCIS when I can.' Time for a reboot?