Steerpike

With Nicky Morgan the new Peter Bone of the Conservative party, the former Education Secretary is making her mark at this year's conference as a Cameroon without a brief. Her opposition to Theresa May's grammar school plans has not gone down well with No.10. Today Patrick McLoughlin used his interview with the Mirror to question why Morgan had allowed a grammar school to expand during her tenure if she was so against the idea. So, perhaps that's why May has decided to keep a close eye on Morgan at this year's event. Morgan was part of a panel discussion this morning titled 'inequality in education'. While she used the session to re-iterate her concerns, it didn't go unnoticed that she had some special attendees in the audience. 'I’ve got the whips.

Although there have been efforts in recent years to make the British media less London-centric, problems persist. While the BBC opened their Salford office in a bid to widen the net, it's Channel 4 who now seem to be struggling to get to grips with the North. Cathy Newman -- the Channel 4 news presenter -- has penned a blog for the Telegraph in which she suggests that Angela Rayner -- the Shadow Education Secretary -- is one to watch. Alas, although the article itself is full of praise for the Labour politician who hails from Stockport, the Twitter sell is another matter entirely. In a message to her followers, Newman told them not to be fooled by Rayner's northern accent. Why? Well, she's actually 'sharp as a pin and funny too'.

While Scottish Labour struggle to fill their events with supporters, the Scottish Conservatives can take heart that their resurgence is still going strong. Attendees for the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party reception queued around the bend to hear Ruth Davidson speak. Davidson spoke of her surprise that officials had put the Scots in a room where they could break things, before moving on to the F-word. After Labour's women conference saw Harriet Harman and her comrades describe Theresa May as a non-sister, Davidson struck back -- suggesting that it is the Conservatives who did the best for women's equality. 'People often ask what we do for women in this country, and I say "well we make them Prime Minister".' However, it was Theresa May who had the last word.

What a difference a year makes. This time last year Lord Feldman was giving a speech as party chairman to welcome Conservative party members to Tory conference. Now no longer chairman, Feldman is out of government along with the majority of the Notting Hill set. However, this hasn't stopped Feldman from attending this year's event in Birmingham. While David Cameron has decided to chillax and give the event a miss, Mr S hears his old chum is in town. A little birdy tells Mr S Feldman is here to make the case for his review into the party. The report -- published in March -- suggested a need for a more diverse selection of candidates and the introduction of three classes of membership.

Recent reports on the situation in the socialist haven of Venezuela suggest that not everything is so tickety-boo. With five-hour queues for toilet paper, the prospect of forced labour looming and a mass food shortage, Mercosur -- the South American trade bloc -- has threatened to expel the country over human rights violations and not complying with trade laws. Despite this, the Labour party continues to show solidarity with the country. Last night, comrades gathered at conference for Cuba and Venezuela: International Solidarity Needed Now More Than Ever!.

There was a time when it looked as though this year's Labour conference might not go ahead as they struggled to find a company to provide security at the event. The party's usual supplier G4S had been deemed unsuitable after the NEC made a decision to boycott them over its prison contracts and links to Israel. By the time Labour came crawling back to the company to ask for their help, after running short of suitable options, G4S declined -- and they opted for OCS. So, conference regulars have been surprised to see a lot of familiar faces from previous years manning the doors at the event. It turns out that around a quarter of OCS's work force at the event also work for... G4S. And the reason they can work for both companies? They are on zero hours contracts.

In a crowded field, one of Jeremy Corbyn’s more controversial suggestions during his time as Labour leader has been putting forward the idea of a ‘power sharing deal’ with Argentina over the Falkland Islands. That plan was called a ‘repugnant surrender’ by war hero Simon Weston, while Michael Fallon said Corbyn posed a bigger threat to the Falklands than the Argentine navy. Yet that hasn’t put off the Falkland Islands Government from turning up at Labour’s party conference this year with a stall. Alas, it seems, the Falkland Island Government’s hopes of speaking to Corbyn have so far fallen on deaf ears.

As Labour MPs and members alike turn on one another at their annual conference, the Conservatives get on with their work. So, spare a thought for Matt Hancock who was attempting to do just this at today's Radio Festival when he encountered and unusual -- if eye-catching -- obstacle. While giving a speech at the event, the culture minister faced a screen malfunction. Rather than have his speech appear on the autocue, two words appeared before him: 'cock gobbler' https://twitter.com/patrickfoster2/status/780366802316656640 While Hancock managed to get through the speech, he then cracked and revealed to the audience the view before him. Mr S suspects that one staffer at the event will be laughing very hard.