Steerpike

Spare a thought for Michael Gove. While his fellow Brexiteer Boris Johnson's leadership campaign came to an abrupt end thanks to Gove challenging him, in the end it was the former mayor who found himself in the Cabinet and Gove who ended up on the backbench. Now it seems that Boris has had the last laugh once again. The latest register of interests shows Gove is earning £150,000 a year for his Times column. In comparison, Johnson's Telegraph column earned him £247,000 a year. Well, at least Gove has a book on the way to help make ends meet.

As Labour struggle to be relevant, Rebecca Long-Bailey -- the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury -- managed to secure a prime spot in the BBC's coverage of the Autumn Statement. Alas, brains at Labour may now be wishing she'd given the interview a miss. Long-Bailey appeared flustered as Andrew Neil asked her several questions about her own party's economic position -- and how it related to the rest of the world. AN: What other government does balance the books around the western world? RLB: I think it's difficult to pin point particular governments that have a zero per cent deficit... AN: Germany is one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UAkt4ypUxE Things then took a turn for the worse when the conversation moved to Brexit Britain.

Here we go again. First Steven Woolfe quit Ukip following a row with his MEP colleagues and now it is the turn of Diane James, the former party leader. James has released a statement announcing that she will sit in the European Parliament as an independent -- adding by way of explanation that her relationship with the party has become 'increasingly difficult'. In reply, Nigel Farage has accused her of 'irrational selfishness'. Of course, none of this is hugely surprising. James lasted in the role of leader for just 18 days -- claiming at the time that despite her election she had no support among the party's executive.

Oh dear. Today James McGrory of Open Britain appeared on Sunday Politics to explain why exactly the group are campaigning for Britain to remain a member of the single market when we leave the EU. As part of their efforts, the think tank has circulated a video which appears to show many Leave campaigners advocating staying in the single market. However when asked about this video, McGrory got more than he had bargained for. Andrew Neil proceeded to take him to task for apparent inaccuracies and half-truths in the clips. To begin, he asked why not one of the statements Open Britain chose to use in the video was said by Leave campaigners in the referendum campaign: AN: How many of these 12 statements were made during the referendum campaign?

Oh dear. Although the SNP like to pride themselves on being the 'real opposition', they tend to struggle when on the receiving end of criticism. And so it was the case today at PMQs as Theresa May responded to a question from Angus Robertson over the government's Brexit plans: AR: Will the Prime Minister confirm today to the country whether the UK is likely to leave the EU customs union post-Brexit, yes or no? TM: The right honourable gentleman doesn't seem to understand that the customs union is not just a binary decision. But let's put that aside, let's look at what we need to do which is to get the best deal for access to for trading with and for operating within the single market.

Although Theresa May is adamant that she will trigger Article 50 come what March, today's Times splash suggests otherwise. A 'leaked' memo from Deloitte to the paper claims that the government is behind schedule with Brexit preparations and is heavily short-staffed -- requiring another 30,000 civil servants in order to get the job done. So, what are the current batch of civil servants getting up to? Well, over in the Department for International Trade, Mr S understands that reading is high on the agenda. Word reaches Steerpike that Liam Fox has instructed his civil servants to read Rising Tides: Facing the Challenges of a New Era -- a book that aims to explain 'how to meet the challenge of the new global reality'.

Once upon a time Labour was seen to be the party of the working class while the Conservatives that of the Old Etonians. However, in recent years the Labour party has been accused of losing touch with its working class voters. So, Mr S was intrigued to see Philip Davies and Tristram Hunt debate one another on the Victoria Derbyshire show. Although the pair were set to talk about Trump's victory, it soon turned into a class war as Davies accused the Labour MP of being a member of the metropolitan elite. While Hunt claimed Trump was a 'dangerous character' who was 'dangerous to trade because of his views on trade', Davies responded that he was actually most dangerous to the metropolitan elite.

This week reports emerged that Nigel Farage was being lined up to act as a go-between for the government and Donald Trump. However, Downing Street sources were quick to deny the claims, suggesting that Ukip's interim leader was an 'irrelevance' to the UK's relationship with the US. However, it appears that keeping Ukip's interim leader on side might not be such a bad idea after all. On Saturday night, Farage -- who shared a platform with Trump during his presidential campaign -- visited Trump Tower to talk 'freedom and winning' with the president-elect. Farage used the opportunity to suggest a bust of Sir Winston Churchill should be put 'back in [the] Oval Office'.