Steerpike

The row about Jeremy Corbyn and a Czech spy shows no sign of dying down. Following a former Czech spy's claim that Corbyn was paid by the Eastern bloc to spy on Britain in the 1980s, the Labour leader has denied the claim and instructed solicitors to respond to 'any false and ridiculous smears' appearing online. Meanwhile, Tory MPs are calling on Corbyn to give permission for the publication of the Czech intelligence file on him. While that looks unlikely, one man who is happy to talk about his Communist dealings in the eighties is Ken Livingstone. Red Ken tells the Daily Mail that he met a KGB spy posing as a journalist for a number of interviews in the 1980s. This man even organised for him to go on a ten-day trip to Russia.

Since Gavin Williamson was appointed as Defence Secretary, the Conservative MP has been in a rush to prove his credentials. From battling the Treasury over proposed military cuts to posing with rescue dogs, Williamson certainly seems a man in a hurry. However, with speed comes mistakes. Today's Financial Times reports of a diplomatic gaffe committed by Williamson this week. Ahead of Theresa May's speech this weekend in Germany on a new security relationship with the EU, the Prime Minister has been doing her best to charm European leaders – recently hosting Emmanuel Macron. However, this week Williamson dismissed the importance of one of France in defence matters.

Here we go again. During the last Conservative leadership campaign, Andrea Leadsom came under fire for suggesting that having children made her a better choice to be prime minister than Theresa May. In an interview with the Times, the mother of three said having children meant she had 'a very real stake' in Britain's future. The furore over Leadsom's comments was a contributing factor in her decision to pull out of the contest. Now it seems that Sarah Champion has taken a lesson from the Leadsom rule book. In an interview with the House magazine, the Labour MP suggests that tackling child sexual abuse has taken a back seat since Theresa May became Prime Minister – lamenting that David Cameron had more of an interest because he is a...

Theresa May's decision to launch a verbal attack on 'citizens of nowhere' backfired in the snap election when metropolitan voters turned on the Prime Minister over fears her Brexit vision was an inward one. Happily, citizens of nowhere have since found some champions of their own. Citizen-of-nowhere-in-chief Janan Ganesh, the Financial Times columnist, kindly wrote a column titled 'how to be a true citizen of nowhere': 'True, we tend to come from nowhere. I live in one continent, was born in another, but originate from a third. So I am not even from where I am from. I grew up in an ambiguous social class in one of those zone four neighbourhoods that are neither metropolitan nor Metroland. We have no identity to, as Sebastian’s protagonist puts it, “resign from”.

Last week Theresa May came under fire from grassroots activists not over her weak and wobbly leadership but over reported proposals to limit the say local party members have when it comes to selecting candidates. So, it's rather unfortunate for the Prime Minister that the man currently favoured by the membership as her successor is with the grassroots on this one. Speaking on the ConservativeHome Moggcast, Jacob Rees-Mogg criticised plans to centralise power on candidate selection as 'undemocratic'. He offered a cautionary tale of his own – had central office had their way the Moggster would not be in Parliament today.

Boris Johnson will have his work cut out on Wednesday when he attempts to give a speech uniting Remainers and Brexiteers. Last week, Brexiteers started received death threats from the mysterious 'real 48 per cent'. Zac Goldsmith was the first to go public when an 80-year-old constituent received one in the mail. Now Andrea Leadsom is the latest to receive the poison pen letter: https://twitter.

Oh dear. Andrew Marr has found himself in the firing line this morning after the presenter congratulated a Tory minister on her interview... live on air. Penny Mordaunt appeared on the programme to answer questions on the unfolding Oxfam scandal and her plans as the recently appointed DfID Secretary. After putting in a confident showing, Marr – thinking the cameras had stopped rolling – went to congratulate her and offer a thumbs up. Only the exchange was broadcast live on air: Did Andrew Marr just turn to @PennyMordaunt at the end of this interview on @MarrShow and whisper “that was very good”!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/gXjQnAFxbL — Peter Stefanovic (@PeterStefanovi2) February 11, 2018 One for the MSM conspiracy theorists...

Since leaving government, Lord Adonis has busied himself as a chief cheerleader for the campaign to stop Brexit. The Remain champion is on a mission to overturn the EU referendum result – criticising Brexit figures such as Nigel Farage for  kickstarting a 'deeply xenophobic and misogynistic' movement. However, this doesn't mean Adonis thinks everyone should be welcomed to the UK with open arms. Speaking at Cambridge University, the Labour grandee hit out at Cambridge vice-chancellor Stephen Toope over his £365,000 salary. In an interview with Varsity, the former transport secretary suggests Toope came to the UK 'because somehow he was going to be paid more than for a Canadian university'.

Here we go. This week the Freemasons have come under increased scrutiny after the Grauniad ran a front page reported that two Freemasons' lodges are operating at Westminster – which it said were for MPs and political journalists. This had led to a series of hit-pieces and criticism of the secretive society. Now the Freemasons are fighting back. The United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) has placed full-page advertisements in several national newspapers – including the Times, as below – calling for an end to the 'discrimination' against their members. They insist that the organisation welcomes individuals from all walks of life but that members are 'undeservedly stigmatised'. One for Philip Davies to raise at the Women and Equalities select committee?

Oh dear. It's crunch day for Theresa May as her Brexit war cabinet gathers for the first of two meetings to discuss the type of trade relationship the UK ought to seek with the EU post-Brexit. With tensions running high in the party and Brexiteers nervous that Theresa May could be about to agree to some form of customs union (despite repeated denials by No 10). Before they even get to that, the Prime Minister must deal with the small matter of the terms of the transition period. With MPs already nervous about agreeing to a period where the UK is a rule-taker rather than a rule-maker, Greg Hands was sent on the Daily Politics in a bid to soothe tensions. Only things didn't go quite to plan.