Steerpike

It’s something of a terrifying thought, but if Labour defeat the Tories at the next election, John McDonnell will be the new occupant of No.11 Downing Street. One of his main roles as chancellor will be to have a grasp of the numbers that matter. But it seems that may be too much to ask from McDonnell. On the Today programme, he was quizzed on the amount it costs Britain to service its debt. Given that Labour wants to up borrowing, this seems like a particularly important thing for the shadow chancellor to know. Unfortunately, it would seem he doesn't have a clue. McDonnell initially tried to bat the question away by saying that being asked that was a 'trite form of journalism'. 'That's why we have iPads and that's why we have advisers etc', he added.

As Jeremy Corbyn worked himself into a bother over Philip Hammond's Budget in the Chamber, Labour's shadow chancellor busied himself on the airwaves. Keen to show there was a better – more socialist – way, John McDonnell tried to explain to Andrew Neil why Labour had a more credible grip on the economy than the Conservatives. In order to try and make this point, McDonnell claimed many asset managers were impressed by his proposals – which include plans to invest through nationalisation.

David Davis has just given a speech on the Brexit transition period – intended to prevent Britain from crashing out of the EU in a disorderly manner. But at the end of his address, it seems that he was personally advocating a different type of transition. As Davis said his goodbyes, he took a tumble. Mr S hopes it's not a sign of things to come...

Oh dear. As resignations go, there has been some tough competition for the most newsworthy in recent years – from Nigel Farage's unresignation to the entire Labour shadow cabinet's to Priti Patel's last week. However, up until now, Mr S had yet to come across a resignation from a job that it is unclear they still held. Step forward George Freeman. This afternoon Labour have gone on the attack over the news that Freeman – as he himself announced in a ConHome blog this morning – has 'stood down' from his role in No 10.

Although Jeremy Corbyn has seen a number of celebrity supporters come and go, Martin Freeman has at least proved loyal. The Hobbit actor has spoken in favour of the Labour leader – and appeared in party broadcasts. Indeed on the Andrew Marr show this morning, Freeman once again endorsed Corbyn. Only this time he added a caveat – making clear he supported Corbyn primarily because he was the leader of the Labour party as given that Labour is his 'team', he would support whoever held that role: AM: You quite like Jeremy Corbyn as a man, don't you? MF: Yes, generally I think most people do, a lot of Tories quite like him as a decent person – they can get their head around that.

Christmas is meant to be the season of goodwill. Alas, no-one at Labour HQ appears to have got the memo. The Labour party have released their Christmas cards – with a distinct Conservative vibe this year. Corbyn's party has used the festive opportunity to make fun of Theresa May's conference speech where the letters fell from the board behind her – meaning the slogan of 'building a country that works for everyone' soon became confused. Yours for a mere £8...

This week, there was a rare sight for the post snap-election political landscape: two Labour MPs having a barney. On the first day of the Committee Stage of the EU Withdrawal Bill, Frank Field and Hilary Benn became engaged in an argument after Field, a 'reluctant Brexiteer', used a house analogy to argue in favour of the government amendment calling for the date of Britain's departure from the EU in the bill. He said he had never bought a house 'without having in the contract the date when it’s mine'. Benn, the son of Tony Benn, hit back by saying the analogy was lacking as 'nobody commits to a date to buy a house before they know what it is that they’re buying'.

The mammoth debate on the government’s EU withdrawal bill has only just started – but already it is turning nasty. Labour’s Frank Field was one of the first to speak and used the opportunity to take a none-too-subtle dig at Hilary Benn, telling his fellow Labour MP: ‘I’ve always bought my houses, never inherited them’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e76Sim6IXDM Unsurprisingly, Benn was not happy, repeatedly telling Field: 'I bought mine too.' Field took his comment back but the damage was done and his colleagues on the Labour backbenchers were none too impressed.