Steerpike

Well, well, well. The Tories, Labour and even the SNP condemned Irish rap band Kneecap on Monday over a 2023 clip that seemed to show the trio calling for violence against politicians. Now, it transpires, the republican band is attempting to row back. The emergence of video footage – that appeared to show one of the group saying 'The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP' – sparked outrage across the UK. The hip-hop trio last night finally issued an apology to the families of Sir David Amess and Jo Cox, the two UK parliamentarians tragically killed in constituency surgery attacks over the last decade, by way of a Twitter post.

To the Commons, where Reform MP Lee Anderson has taken a pop at Labour over Britain's grooming gang scandal. First blasting Home Office minister Jess Phillips for not backing a full national inquiry, Anderson went on to question whether she was 'part of the cover up'. Then the Ashfield MP took to Twitter to slam the lefty lot for their 'weak' handling of the matter. 'Labour MPs shouted "shame" at me today when I asked this question,' he wrote scathingly. 'Sorry, minister, but the shame is with you.' Shots fired! This afternoon Anderson described how 'thousands of young, white British working class girls have been raped, tortured and abused by Pakistani grooming gangs'.

After the 4 July wipeout last year, Ben Houchen became the most senior Conservative left in public office across the UK. So it is intriguing then to hear the Tees Valley mayor make a series of remarks that are not entirely helpful to party leader, Kemi Badenoch. First, there were his comments last month to PoliticsHome in which Houchen warned that: We do not live in a world of academia and think tanks. That’s not what modern politics is about. It’s a street fight. You’ve got to get out there. You’ve got to dig your nails in. You’ve got to dig your heels, and you’ve got to make progress one inch at a time. We’re not doing enough to earn the respect from others, journalists, political parties or the public, because we’re not doing that. Whomever could he mean?

The generational smoking ban is (slowly) making its way through parliament, as part of Labour's plan to ban nicotine purchases for anyone born after 1 January 2009. The plans – first announced by Rishi Sunak – are being eagerly pushed through by Wes Streeting, despite Mr S pointing out a potential breach of the Windsor Framework with regards to tobacco sales in Northern Ireland. Some parliamentarians, though, do not feel the current ban goes far enough. So now Lord Bethell – best remembered as Matt Hancock's chief lockdown lieutenant – has now tabled a little-noticed amendment in the Upper House. It inserts a new clause to the text, advocating 'complete prohibition of tobacco products from 2040.' How liberal!

It's not just the SNP who can't sort out their ferries. A new row has broken out much further south over the failure to provide affordable transport to the 140,000 residents on the Isle of Wight. The local Tory MP Joe Robertson is leading the charge over rocketing ferry prices, which mean a return trip to the mainland will now cost locals a whopping £486. Such is the level of local discontent that residents are taking matters into their own hands. A meeting of MPs and ferry bosses yesterday in Cowes was convened to discuss the state of cross-Solent ferries. Unfortunately for Mike Kane, the Maritime Minister, the event was gatecrashed by a group of protesters, dressed in the garb of Long John Silver.

Reform UK are on manoeuvres in Scotland. Mr S can reveal today that not only did Nigel Farage's party poach former Tory councillor Ross Lambie last month, now the right-wingers will rub salt in Conservative wounds by standing him in the Scottish constituency of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse in the June by-election – after incumbent SNP MSP Christina McKelvie sadly passed away in March. Lambie, of South Lanarkshire Council, defected from Russell Findlay's Scottish Tories at the beginning of March after blaming 'legacy parties' like the Conservatives, Labour and the SNP letting down voters 'again and again' – and he has since proclaimed on social media that 'only Reform UK can drain the bog of Holyrood'.

Talk about a turn-up for the books. In an unusual breach with convention, it was Kemi Badenoch rising for HM Loyal Opposition this afternoon to respond to Bridget Phillipson's statement in response to the Supreme Court ruling last week. But the Tory leader – whose conviction on same-sex spaces has been applauded by JK Rowling among others – certainly made it a moment to remember as she tore into the government for its cowardice on this issue. Badenoch said: I could not believe my eyes or my ears this afternoon. In 2021 the prime minister said it is not right to say only women have a cervix. In 2022 he said it is the law that trans women are women. In 2023 he said, and I quote, "99% of women don’t have a penis”.