Steerpike

All is not well on the Labour front benches. As Sir Keir Starmer defends his welfare U-turn in the Commons – after last night an eleventh-hour concession saw the government push back Personal Insurance Payment changes – behind him Chancellor Rachel Reeves is struggling to keep it together. Looking both upset and rather sleep deprived, the beleaguered Chancellor has even shed a few tears during the gruelling session. Throughout Prime Minister's Questions, Reeves appeared close to tears – and a line of questioning by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch seemed to push her over the edge. The Conservative party leader quizzed the Prime Minister on whether the Chancellor would hold onto her job – and in response, Starmer refused to guarantee Reeves's security.

Uh oh. After Sir Keir Starmer's embarrassing U-turn on his government's welfare bill last night – where changes to Personal Insurance Payments were pushed back until after disability minister Stephen Timms's review on it all next year – cabinet minister Pat McFadden has been out on the airwaves this morning defending his leader. But when the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster appeared on BBC Breakfast, Mr S noted that he didn't quite manage to reassure viewers that there would be no tax rises in the autumn as a result of this £5bn volte face… When quizzed on whether economists at the Institute for Fiscal Studies were correct in thinking that tax rises are on the horizon, McFadden remarked: Well, this was one moving part of the budgetary picture.

To the Lucy Letby case, where it transpires that the Crown Prosecution Service is considering further criminal charges against the ex-nurse. Murder investigators have passed evidence of further allegations that relate to baby deaths and collapses at the hospitals that employed her – and these are now being considered by the CPS after the Cheshire force handed over the evidence. Good heavens… The number and nature of the potential new offences remain unclear, and it is thought that any new charges could take weeks to come.

To the Countess of Chester Hospital, where three hospital managers have been arrested as part of a corporate manslaughter probe relating to the conviction of nurse Lucy Letby. Cheshire police have confirmed that the hospital bosses have been arrested today on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter. They have been bailed pending further inquiries. It follows Letby's guilty verdict in 2023, where the nurse was found to have murdered seven babies and attempting to murder six others between June 2015 and June 2016. In 2024, after a retrial, she was found guilty of trying to murder another girl – known as Baby K – and has been sentenced to another whole life term. The 34-year-old has been handed 15 life sentences in total.

Dear oh dear. Mr S reported on Saturday that former Conservative science minister George Freeman was under scrutiny over Sunday Times reports about his £60,000-a-year adviser gig to GHGSat Limited. Now it transpires that the Tory MP for Mid Norfolk has been suspended from his role as government trade envoy after the allegations he was paid by the eco-innovators to reportedly submit parliamentary questions about the sector the firm operates in. As revealed by the Sunday broadsheet, leaked emails showed Freeman asking the director of the environment monitoring firm GHGSat Limited 'what to ask about'. Submitting tailored queries to ministers about the sector could have handed the company a commercial advantage – and would break multiple rules in the MPs' code of conduct.

Well, well, well. The chants of Bob Vylan frontman at Glastonbury – 'death, death to the IDF' – sparked outrage at the weekend and it wasn't long before questions were asked of the BBC, which streamed the performance to viewers at home. Now it transpires that the Beeb's director general Tim Davie was made aware of the controversial chants after the public service broadcaster had shown them live on Saturday – and while Davie ordered the performance to be made unavailable to viewers on demand, the original livestream remained on iPlayer for five hours. A BBC spokesperson has now lamented the decision not to pull the livestream, noting that: Tim was there for a few hours to see the team. He was made aware during the time he was there of what had been said on stage.

Sir Keir Starmer seems to be changing his mind a lot these days. Whether it is welfare cuts or the 'island of strangers' speech, a grooming gangs inquiry or winter fuel, the Prime Minister is struggling to keep consistent line on much at present. So it is perhaps no surprise then that the Labour leader has changed his tune on the rules around peerages too. In a little-noticed statement to parliament, snuck out last Thursday, Starmer provided an update on the 'roles and responsibilities of all parties involved in making nominations to the House of Lords.' He addressed the subject of the House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC), saying that: Advice on propriety is separate to judgements about the suitability of candidates, which are for political parties...

Just how many of the 121 Tory MPs elected last summer will be there by the end of this parliament? Already, Patrick Spencer has lost the whip after being charged with two counts of sexual assault. And now, George Freeman finds himself in hot water after the Sunday Times reported allegations about his second job as a £60,000-a-year paid adviser to eco-innovators GHGSat Limited. The former Science Minister reportedly submitted queries to ministers about the sector the firm operates in, potentially handing the company a commercial advantage. He also asked a director at the environmental monitoring company to tell him 'what to ask about', in exchanges that may have breached ethics rules and are likely to see the Norfolk MP accused of taking 'cash for questions'.

Good old Charlie Falconer. For more than 15 years now, the noble Lord has been trying, desperately, to ram assisted dying through parliament. Kim Leadbeater's Bill represents his eighth attempt at legalising suicide following previous efforts in 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2019, 2022 and 2024. Now, with a narrow majority of just 23 MPs backing Leadbeater's legislation, Falconer clearly senses the victory that has eluded him for so long... The New Labour grandee penned a piece in the Times last week headlined 'Assisted dying will end the anguish. We won’t let wreckers derail it.' It concluded that MPs had 'decided the law must change. The Lords will scrutinise and improve but it will respect and give effect to that decision.' In short, what MPs say, goes.