Steerpike

It's no great secret that Davos isn't Theresa May's natural habitat. Whether it's eschewing meetings with businessmen to have a private fondue or giving speeches warning the guests at the event, the Prime Minister isn't a natural at the flashy meeting of the global elite. So, reports that May spoke to a half-empty crowd yesterday have been quick to do the rounds on social media, with users joking that the one thing May and Trump have in common is an inability to pull in a crowd (as with his inauguration).  Politico report that the crowd’s reaction 'was extremely muted' – and that Michel Barnier, the EU’s Brexit negotiator, 'chose to join another WEF session rather than listen to May'.

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.

Here we go again. The stand out moment of the latest Question Time saw a young woman accuse a Tory minister of purposefully underfunding the NHS in order to  make the argument for privatisation. The exchange left Margot James, a DCMS minister, insisting that she was 'not a liar' and calling out the accusations as false. Since then, the clip of the young woman taking James to task has been widely shared online. Only all is not what it seems. It turns out that the audience member is not your average viewer. In fact, Rebecca Shirazi is a local Labour party candidate. Corbynista Laura Pidcock has been tweeting her praises: https://twitter.com/LauraPidcockMP/status/954345709616103424 So much for playing fair...

Here we go again. For some time now Labour's Brexit confusion can be described as 'complicated' at best. Matters aren't helped by the fact that Labour shadow cabinet members often go on the airwaves and contradict each others – sometimes even themselves. This was evidenced last month took to the Andrew Marr show to claim that Labour had never supported a second referendum – despite writing to a constituent to say she would argue for the 'right of the electorate to vote on any deal that is finally agreed'. Now it seems Labour's ever-changing Brexit position is getting too much even for Abbott.

With the new Tory vice-chairman for youth, Ben Bradley, currently making headlines for ill-judged blog posts from 2012, it's safe to say that Theresa May's plan to revamp CCHQ by appointing 13 MPs as vice-chairs, hasn't gone entirely to plan. However, one vice chairman is determined to make a success of her brief – no matter the cost. Step forward Kemi Badenoch. The MP for Saffron Walden has been put in charge of selecting Conservative candidates for the 2022 general election. However, in this week’s edition of The House magazine, Badenoch reveals that her first task consisted of knocking a white public schoolboy off the list.

Oh dear. After three Momentum candidates – including key Corbyn ally Jon Lansman – were elected to Labour’s national executive committee on Monday, the NEC swiftly moved to oust Ann Black as chair of the Disputes Panel in favour of Christine Shawcroft. Given that Shawcroft was previously suspended by the party in 2015, the move has raised alarm bells in the Labour party. However, should you be concerned that Shawcroft is now responsible for deciding whether to investigate sexist, racist, homophobic and anti-semitic abuse, you're probably just a member of the elite. Or at least that's what Paul Mason thinks.

Ken Clarke is back on his feet talking about Brexit in the Commons again – but his speech has not gone down well with all of his colleagues. Sitting behind him, his fellow Tory MP Sir Desmond Swayne struggled to stay awake as Clarke talked about the rights of EU citizens. Swayne even appeared to nod off at one point. Mr S thinks Swayne could be forgiven for thinking he had heard it all before...