Steerpike

Over the past few weeks, Mr S has detected the faint whiff of May-mania on the horizon. The Prime Minister's handling of the poisoning of a former Russian double agent on British soil has seen her popularity rise again. What's more, she learnt a new trick – recently fist-bumping a Salisbury resident. Now she can add cracking jokes to that list. At her appearance before the Liaison Committee this afternoon, May was asked about the importance of the agriculture industry in Wales to the community. Here she pointed out that she had seen this herself on her many walking trips in Wales – only not everyone would appreciate this: 'I'm tempted to point out that I do see value of Welsh agriculture to the Welsh landscape quite often when I go walking in Wales.

Oh dear. It's no great secret that the Parliamentary Labour Party has struggled to get to grips with Jeremy Corbyn's response to Russia over the poisoning of a former Russian double agent on British soil. However, up until now they had refrained from criticising him directly in the Chamber. Today John Woodcock decided to go there following Theresa May's statement on Russia.

Here we go. After much anticipation over the weekend, the Observer's Vote Leave investigation is finally public. The paper alleges that the Brexit campaign group may have flouted referendum spending rules and then attempted to destroy evidence. While those involved with Vote Leave vehemently deny the claims, Carole Cadwalladr – the journalist behind the ongoing investigation around Trump, Brexit, Russia and Cambridge Analytica – appeared on the Andrew Marr show to discuss her claims.

This evening Owen Smith has been unceremoniously sacked by Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour front bench after he called for another EU referendum. However, given that the Labour frontbench aren't exactly known for sharing a coherent Brexit position, some are questioning how fair the move is. After all, when it coms to calling for second referendums, Diane Abbott actually beat Smith to it. Back in November, the Labour frontbencher was reported, by the Guardian, to have written to two constituents pledging she would argue in favour of a referendum on the final Brexit deal – a policy that had been ruled out by the party: ‘I will argue for the right of the electorate to vote on any deal that is finally agreed.’ Only unlike Smith, Abbott is still in post.

Oh dear. With Theresa May in Brussels today for the EU Council summit, Remain campaigners have been keen to do what they can to undermine her latest Brexit efforts. In that vein, Vince Cable held a meeting with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) on Brexit today. The Liberal Democrats subsequently issued a press release announcing that 'liberal prime ministers from eight EU countries' had publicly backed Cable's call for a vote on any Brexit deal: Only that appeared to come as a surprise to those listed. The ALDE were quick to rebuff the claims – stating that while they regret the Brexit vote, they respect the result and the Article 50 process. Cable's side have since suggested it was a 'verbal agreement' between the leaders.

This week the main political news in Labour has revolved around a hat. Rather than the Brexit transition period or Russian aggression, the issue that has kept the Corbynistas busy is whether or not Jeremy Corbyn's hat was photoshopped on Newsnight. This was the claim made by Owen Jones on the show – when he accused the BBC of photoshopping a hat to make him look like a 'Soviet stooge'. Since then the claim has gone viral – with Guido reporting a social media reach of over 2 million – despite repeated denials by the BBC. It's also handily worked as a dead hat strategy – successfully distracting from Corbyn's misjudged comments on Russia. However, it seems that Owen Jones’ claim really was fake news. Channel 4's Fact Check has looked into the story.

Oh dear. How best to stop a row over the terms for fishermen in the Brexit transition period escalating into a rebellion? Well, don't send in Julian Smith for one. After the Scottish Conservatives saw red over the decision to keep the United Kingdom in the Commons Fisheries Policy during the Brexit implementation period, the Chief Whip summoned Tory MPs to see him. However, rather than soothe concerns, it appears he made a bad situation worse. PoliticsHome reports that Smith told them to accept Theresa May's Brexit transition deal because 'it's not like the fishermen are going to vote Labour'. Someone had best introduce Smith to the SNP...

Martin Selmayr's brilliantly engineered coup earned him a lofty promotion in Brussels, but ahead of his rise to Secretary-General of the European Commission it seems Selmayr was busy boosting his credentials for the top job. Between Christmas and New Year, when most people were taking time out to enjoy the festivities, Selmayr dabbled in a spot of late-night editing on Wikipedia. The German news magazine, Der Spiegel, unearthed some particularly interesting edits to Martin Selmayr's page: So what changes were made? The person responsible for the edits... ...added that Selmayr has 'consistently denied' leaking details about the Brexit negotiations.   ...

Jeremy Corbyn's reaction this week to the poisoning of a former Russian double agent on British soil has re-opened old wounds within the Labour party. The Labour leader's apparent refusal to condemn Moscow involvement was made worse when his spokesman Seumas Milne appeared to cast doubt on the analysis by British intelligence agencies – suggesting that 'there’s a history in relation to WMD and intelligence which is problematic to put it mildly’. Since then, key Corbyn ally Chris Williamson has branded Labour MPs who back Theresa May's stance on Russia – rather than Corbyn's – as ‘political enemies'. So who’s saying what and which MPs are considering a break with Corbyn?

Although Theresa May has earned a reputation for being robotic and predictable, today she did something that took almost everyone by surprise. On a visit to Salisbury in the wake of the poisoning of a Russian double agent, May met with locals. When one put out their fist to greet her, May went in for a fist bump: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsUHDIoklWg Perhaps there's hope for the Maybot yet...