Steerpike

Last week, the SNP proved particularly vocal at PMQs after they went on the offensive over a Scottish Conservative MP missing Labour's opposition say debate on universal credit to referee at a Barcelona match. Although the vote was non-binding – and the Conservatives abstained anyway – Douglas Ross has since promised to hang up his whistle – after next year’s World Cup. Not willing to drop the issue, however, the SNP's Mhairi Black has gone on the warpath in her Daily Record column today.

Since George Osborne moved to the Evening Standard, the one-time austere chancellor has rebranded himself as a centrist darling – and a critic of Theresa May's government. So, at last night's Standard Progress 1000 awards at the Tate Modern, Osborne took great delight in telling the esteemed crowd – which included Diane Abbott, Matt Hancock and Grayson Perry – of how he had stood up to government bean counters when he first arrived in the Treasury: 'In the first week of my former job, I was advised by the Treasury civil service to cancel immediately three projects because we had to save money and it was easier to save money from things we hadn't built yet than things that had already been built.

Alastair Campbell has made his views on Brexit loud and clear to anyone who will listen. Tony Blair’s former spin doctor is not happy about Britain leaving the EU and he wants us all to know it. It’s something of a shame then that he doesn’t give others who don’t agree with him about Brexit the opportunity to have their say. Cracking set-to between Alistair Campbell and John Redwood over the WTO. pic.twitter.com/veUDBFCDTy — Nick Hilton (@nickfthilton) October 19, 2017 Campbell popped up on Sky News this afternoon to discuss why he thought walking away with no Brexit deal would be a mistake. But when it came to Tory MP John Redwood’s turn to speak, Campbell was having none of it: AC: 'Because people like you..

Earlier this week, the New York Times introduced social media guidelines for its journalists. The rules were designed to ensure the paper’s ‘reputation for neutrality’ isn’t damaged by anything its writers might say on Twitter. Is it time for the Economist to do the same? Mr S. only asks because one of the magazine’s Brexit-bashing writers appears to have taken it upon himself to launch his own pro-EU political party overnight. Jeremy Cliffe, the Economist’s Berlin Bureau chief, tweeted late last night to say he was considering balancing his day job with a new foray into politics: https://twitter.com/JeremyCliffe/status/920391741655666697?

Although Theresa May has found herself in a more vulnerable position since her disastrous conference speech – which featured a collapsing set, prankster and bad cough – the Prime Minister can take heart that her MPs are willing to put on a show of solidarity. At today's Autumn Reception of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), Matt Hancock gave a speech on the important progress the group has made on what is one of the more pressing issues of our time. However, midway through his speech one of the backdrop banners fell – and had to be resurrected by an attendee. Not that it put Hancock off: 'That puts me on a par with the Prime Minister, I'm absolutely thrilled – the new new thing is the collapsing backdrop.

Oh to be young and free and a member of Young Labour. Labour's youth wing held its annual conference this weekend. On the menu? Votes for 16-year-olds, comradely debate and... a vote to leave Nato. Yes, in a bid to free themselves of American imperialism, the Labour MPs of tomorrow backed a motion calling for the UK to leave Nato. https://twitter.com/JBickertonUK/status/919659945687121926 No doubt fellow Nato-critic Corbyn will be proud... Update: In other news, the latest young Corbynista fashion trend appears to be a t-shirt calling for the Shadow Chancellor to be given a gun. https://twitter.com/TomMcTague/status/919890652082724865 Viva la revolucion!

Sadiq Khan revealed yesterday that he had never 'knowingly' used an Uber. So Mr S. was curious to find this video clip from 2015 of Khan referring to himself as an 'Uber man'. During an appearance on the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire show, Khan was asked whether he was an ‘Uber man or a black cab man’. He replied by saying: ‘I’m both an Uber and a black cab man’ Here's the video: Today Sadiq Khan said he's never "knowingly" taken an uber but told us in 2015 he's "a black cab and an uber man" @VictoriaLIVE @BBCNormanS pic.twitter.com/8jJ3Dh7fiF — Louisa Compton (@louisa_compton) October 12, 2017 So which is it, Sadiq? Maybe it's time the Mayor of London made up his mind...

Ten years on from the financial crash and Theresa May is Prime Minister, Jeremy Corbyn is leader of the opposition and George Osborne is editor of the Evening Standard. So, were the policies enacted by Osborne during his time in government partly to blame for this? Speaking to Andrew Neil at a Spectator event, Osborne suggested that this wasn’t the case, although he did admit that a historian looking back might see some link between the economic crash - and the response to it – and the rise of both Donald Trump and Jeremy Corbyn. The economic shock to the West has thrown up many political changes, suggested Osborne. ‘But I’m just a journalist now,’ he said, before being reminded that he was also an advisor to BlackRock.