Steerpike

Although the Conservatives can celebrate an impressive victory in Copeland last night, over in Stoke things look less rosy for the party. Despite Theresa May's visit to Stoke-on-Trent this week, the Tory candidate Jack Brereton finished third, 79 votes behind Paul Nuttall. To make matters worse for Brereton, he appears to have made little impression with Conservative MPs. During This Week's by-election coverage, Andrew Neil asked Matt Hancock to name the Stoke candidate to little avail: 'Um... I didn’t meet him because I didn’t go... Phil Broughton?' https://twitter.com/bbcthisweek/status/834933073464569856 Given that Phil Broughton is the name of a Ukip politician, Hancock would have been better saying nothing...

After John Bercow announced in the House of Commons that he would block any calls for President Trump to speak in Westminster Hall on his forthcoming state visit, there was an outcry from Conservative MPs who accused the Speaker of grandstanding. Given that Bercow failed to consult the Speaker of the Lords and President Trump has never even expressed an interest in speaking before Parliament, they appeared to have a point. So, when James Duddridge, the Tory MP, tabled a motion of no confidence ahead of recess, there was much chatter that the Speaker could be on the way out. Expectations were later reduced somewhat, with Conservative sources predicting that around 150 MPs would come out against Bercow. Alas that too appears to have been an optimistic estimate.

As the House of Lords begins to debate the government's Article 50 bill, Baroness Chakrabarti appears to have used the week before to relax and recharge. Eye Spy MP reports that Shami was spied in the Grosvenor Hotel with a glass of fizz. https://twitter.com/eyespymp/status/833701426203344896 Unkind souls have suggested she was drinking champagne while parliament was sitting. But Mr S would like to defend her honour: champagne is clearly a drink Baroness Chakrabarti reserves for drinking during parliamentary recess. It's good to see Jeremy Corbyn's team are doing what they can to brush off the party's metropolitan elite image.

Although Paul Nuttall made a quick escape from today's Ukip Spring Conference in order to avoid the pesky press, compared with Douglas Carswell it was an admirable effort. Mr S understands that Ukip's only MP has deigned not to bother turning up today. While there are over 25 Ukip politicians speaking at the event, Carswell will not be one of them. Instead the MP for Clacton will appear through the medium of video -- opting to record a video message rather than make the journey up North. While Nuttall has promised to give Labour a run for its money in the party's traditional heartlands, Mr S suspects the message would hold a bit more weight if Ukip's parliamentary party also frequented the area.

Ken Loach has carved out a name as something of a Corbynista luvvie. The director put together a droning, hour-long promotional film for the Labour leader last year. And Corbyn returned in kind by offering a glowing review of his pal’s recent I, Daniel Blake movie, which he urged people to go and see. This week, Loach stepped up his campaign against the Tories by criticising the Government in a speech at the Baftas, saying the Conservatives ‘must be removed’ from office.

Oh dear. As Theresa May avoids questions about the NHS up in Copeland ahead of this month's by-election, brains at No 10 decided a trip to Captain Shaw's Primary School in Bootle would make for a safe photo opp. Alas things didn't go quite to plan when the Prime Minister struggled to raise a smile in the company of two pupils. What ever will Andrea Leadsom say? Captions on a postcard please.

Just in case tensions between Brexiteers and Remain-ers were beginning to die down now that MPs have voted for Article 50, television producers are at the ready to whip up more drama between the two camps. Channel 4 is bringing back Wife Swap for a Brexit special. While it has been touted as a one-off special, Mr S has been passed the casting call which suggests they are looking for more than one pair of families to take part. So, are you a Brexiteer who is ready and willing to convince a family of Remain-ers that Brexit Britain isn't such a bad thing? If so, details on how to apply can be found above.

Oh dear. It's safe to say that Labour's candidate for the Stoke-on-Central by-election has not had a good day. After Guido published tweets in which Gareth Snell called a variety of women 'sour-faced' and 'annoying', the Sun revealed that he had said Deirdre from Coronation Street deserved a slap. Meanwhile, Mr S notes that Snell also found time to tweet an expletive-laden message telling Stephenie Meyer, the author of the Twilight book series, 'f--- you very much'. So, what does Snell make of today's female politicians and his potential colleagues?

Last month, Tim Farron ruled out any electoral pact between the Liberal Democrats and Labour -- branding Jeremy Corbyn 'toxic'. With Labour mourning the loss of over 7,000 members in January, it seems Farron may be on to something. In contrast to Labour, the Liberal Democrats were buoyed by 4,000 new members last month. And just how many new members cited Corbyn as the reason they were joining the Lib Dems? Well, a little (yellow) bird tells Mr S that about 2,000 of them said Corbyn or the ‘state of Labour’ when asked why they are joining. It seems Corbyn's increased media presence is having a positive effect after all -- just for the wrong party.