Steerpike

Since Georgia 'Toff' Toffolo won I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here, the Conservatives have been left with a dilemma over whether to utilise their celebrity supporter. A proud Conservative, Toff kindly volunteered to utilise her million followers for the party only for brains at CCHQ to block any such move over concerns she’s ‘too posh to win over Labour supporters’. Although the Conservative consensus has since changed in favour of bringing her into the tent, it seems it may be a case of too little, too late. In an interview with Sunday Times Style magazine, Toff comes across a little bit disgruntled about her recent interactions with the Tories.

Amber Rudd is frequently touted as a frontrunner in any Tory leadership race, but the Home Secretary has kept schtum on whether or not she actually fancies her chances. So, is Rudd secretly readying herself for a shot at getting the top job when May steps down? Mr S. only asks because Rudd lists a donation towards a ‘fighting fund’ in the latest MPs' register of interests: Of course, the money is probably going towards ensuring that Rudd actually manages to cling on in her marginal constituency of Hastings and Rye. She narrowly avoided being ousted from the seat at last year’s snap election, beating her Labour rival by just 346 votes.

We've all been there. You go to Davos to hang out with the global elite and drum up business for Brexit Britain in the ritzy resort – but then you decide that actually all you want is a fondue in peace. So, spare a thought for the Prime Minister. In today's Times, Theresa May's former advisor Katie Perrior recalls what went on the last time the Prime Minister went to Davos. Rather than meet with one of China's richest men, May opted to have a fondue: 'For instance, Jack Ma is a business figure of global importance. But when one of China’s richest men sought a meeting with Mrs May in Davos last year, he was told that she was too busy.

George Osborne has returned to his old ways this week – flying to Davos as part of a contingent of Citizens of Nowhere who have made the luxury Swiss resort their home for the week. Only this year the global elite have been joined by some guests who could not be described as your typical attendee. Happily, Osborne welcomes the newfound interest in the event. the former Writing the diary in the new issue of The Spectator, the Evening Standard editor says 'Davos Man understands that the struggle takes many forms'. 'Shadow chancellor John McDonnell is braving the Glühwein to lecture us on Marxism,' he writes. 'Donald Trump is swapping cheeseburgers for Swiss fondue on his mission to put America first.

Rather than re-energise the Tory party as intended, Theresa May's new year reshuffle just exposed her weaknesses and managed to annoy a lot of Conservative MPs in the process. What's more, Mr S understands there is another undesired consequence. Two weeks on and Downing Street is yet to fill a host of special advisor vacancies. Mr S hears murmur of discontent over the way the process is being handled – with complaints of No 10 control-freakery and attempts to thrust candidates on ministers. One aspect of this is a bid to keep the redundancy payments low – so re-appoint those SpAds who lost their jobs rather than go for external hires. But not everyone is playing ball. 'If the government can't manage a basic task like appointing a few SpAds, what does that tell us?

Talk of trigger ballots, deselection and factional manoeuvres is rife in the Labour party after three Momentum candidates were elected on the party's NEC – tipping the balance in favour of the Corbynistas. Since that election, the NEC moved swiftly to vote to oust Ann Black as chair of the Disputes Panel in favour of Christine Shawcroft. The panel is responsibly for deciding whether to investigate sexist, racist, homophobic and anti-semitic abuse - and given that Shawcroft herself was suspended from the party in 2015 (for publicly supporting disgraced Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman), many moderates are concerned over her appointment and what it means for Labour's disciplinary procedure going forward.