Steerpike

If you just listened to Corbynistas, one could be forgiven for thinking that (a) Labour won the snap election (b) the party increased its popularity among the working class. Last night offered a perfect example of Labour's contrary rhetoric. Speaking at an Open Labour event, Clive Lewis boasted of how far the party had come since MPs were asked – by interim leader Harriet Harman – to vote for the welfare bill after the 2015 Labour election defeat: Only if being truthful, it's hard to see that much has changed at all on this issue. In the 2017 manifesto, Labour kept £7bn of  George Osborne's £9bn welfare cuts. In fact, the biggest bung from the manifesto was to the middle classes in the form of free tuition fees.

Theresa May's decision to announce plans to launch an inquiry into the contaminated blood scandal on the day she 'reboots' her leadership, has been read by many as a sign of her growing weakness. With no Tory majority in sight, the Prime Minister today issued a plea to other parties to contribute – before giving way on an issue that the opposition parties are united on. But before one gets too carried away by the new power wielded by the likes of Labour, is it actually just the same old? Mr S was intrigued to note that the DUP earlier in the week backed an inquiry into the scandal. This meant – that with the confidence and supply agreement not applying – May had no choice but to cave, or face defeat in the House. https://twitter.

Is Theresa May's working majority about to get even smaller? After the Prime Minister called out unacceptable abuse directed at MPs, Theresa May is having to contend with bad behaviour from one of her own. The Huff Post UK has obtained a recording of Anne Marie Morris, the MP for Newton Abbot, using the N-word during an appearance on a Brexit panel – where she discussed what Britain's exit from the EU meant for financial services: 'Now I’m sure there will be many people who’ll challenge that, but my response and my request is look at the detail, it isn’t all doom and gloom. Now we get to the real n----r in the woodpile which is in two years what happens if there is no deal?' May is already under pressure to remove the whip from the MP.

This week, Emma Dent Coad, the Labour MP for Kensington, called for Sir Martin Moore-Bick to be replaced as head of the Grenfell Tower inquiry. The reason? He does not 'understand human beings'. Happily, her appearance on the Sunday Politics this morning presented an opportunity for Dent Coad to elaborate on her comments. Yet aside from the well reported ruling Moore-Bick made in a housing case in 2014, Dent Coad did not seem to have that much evidence for her claim. In fact, in the interview with Andrew Neil, it soon transpired that she hadn't actually met the judge: AN: This judge leading the Grenfell inquiry, have you met him? EDC: I haven't met him, no. AN: So what evidence do you have that he doesn't, in your words, understand human beings?

Theresa May is spending the day flying the flag for Cool Britannia at the G20 summit in Hamburg. The Prime Minister promised to use the trip to show that Britain remains a global player. But with May also planning to bring up the Paris climate change agreement with President Trump, how will the special relationship cope under the strain? [caption id="attachment_9896842" align="aligncentre" width="520"] Trump and May, back at the Nato summit[/caption] Captions in the comments. Update: ...

To say that Boris Johnson and Michael Gove's relationship is a complex one would be an understatement. The Vote Leave comrades fell out spectacularly when the former education secretary turned on BoJo during the last Tory leadership campaign – opting to launch his own (doomed) bid for No 10 at the expense of his so-called friend's. But there is good news at last for fans of the Boris/Gove psycho drama: it looks like the band are back together. With Gove back in the Cabinet as Defra Secretary, his written statement today reveals that it's Johnson who he is trusting with withdrawing the UK from the London Fisheries Convention.