Steerpike

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.

After Georgia ‘Toff’ Toffolo won I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here, the Tories have been divided on how best to utilise their celebrity supporter. A proud Conservative, Toff's offer to share her million Instagram followers with the party was snubbed by CCHQ over concerns she was ‘too posh to win over Labour supporters’. Since then, the Made in Chelsea cast member has complained that MPs spun a trip she made to Parliament for TV work to make it look as though she had come for a meeting. Happily, Conservative MPs will soon have a chance to make amends with the reality star.

No one puts the Moggster in a corner. He was due to speak to the UWE Bristol Politics and International Relations Society. A bunch of hooded protesters entered the room, and started to shout. There are about a dozen of them, shouting about Brexit, some with their faces covered. The Moggster, rather than taking cover, walks towards the mob. 1) Masked thugs arrive to disrupt @Jacob_Rees_Mogg at an event in the University of the West of England in Bristol. pic.twitter.com/6Z0eCUBRGY — Peter Thompson (@P_G_Thompson) February 2, 2018 Then the scuffle @BBCNews a huge amount of (physical) violence at a Jacob Rees Mogg speech in UWE Bristol pic.twitter.com/bfaOqAVwc6 — Chloe (@chloekayex) February 2, 2018 And the stills.