Steerpike

Wimbledon wouldn’t be Wimbledon without strawberries and cream, Pimms and…John Bercow in the Royal Box. The speaker of the House of Commons has been something of a permanent fixture over the last few years indulging his love of watching the tennis among the great and the good. Since 2015, he’s managed to get his mitts on £8,000 worth of free tickets to Wimbledon. Today, he’s back in his second favourite seat - watching Jo Konta crash out of the championships while deputy speaker Eleanor Laing filled in for him in the day job in Parliament. Somewhat awkwardly for Bercow though, also in the Royal Box was his old adversary David Cameron.

Politicians have been busy swapping horror stories of the unacceptable abuse dished out to MPs and candidates running for Parliament. Fortunately for Labour frontbencher Jack Dromey, he appears to have escaped the worst of the vitriol. But when talking on the Daily Politics about his own experiences, Dromey resorted to some very unparliamentary language. Here's what he said: 'I personally don't get, if you excuse the language, that much shit. But the shit I get comes overwhelmingly from the right' Dromey's language has not gone down well on Twitter, where at least one parent complained that her child heard him swear. Mr S thinks Dromey doesn't really have a leg to stand on: after all, his swearing came at least eight hours before the watershed...

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: ...