Steerpike

Last summer, Chuka Umunna disappointed his Blairite mentors when he dropped out of the Labour leadership race. Explaining his decision, Umunna said that he was uncomfortable with the level of pressure and scrutiny on both himself and his loved ones. A lot has changed since then. With Jeremy Corbyn leading a fractious party -- and Umunna now happily married -- could a comeback be on the cards? After Keith Vaz stepped down from his role as chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday, Umunna has today confirmed that he will stand in the election to replace Vaz. Umunna -- who is already on the committee -- will have to beat off competition from fellow Labour comrades, with Yvette Cooper and Fiona Mactaggart both tipped to run.

Today Keith Vaz has stepped down as chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee following a series of claims about his personal life. His decision comes after a number of his Labour comrades tried to help his cause by going onto the airwaves to wax lyrical about their colleague. Simon Danczuk -- who is currently suspended from the party for sexting a 17-year-old -- appeared on the Victoria Derbyshire show to claim that Vaz is a well-respected MP. He was joined by Ken Livingstone -- who is currently suspended from the party over his claim that Hitler was 'supporting Zionism' before he 'went mad and ended up killing six million Jews'. Livingstone did manage to wax lyrical about Vaz briefly.

After the Government released its childhood obesity strategy last month, Theresa May stood accused of sidelining the issue. So, Mr S was pleased to receive an invite to an event focussing on the issue. Sharon Hodgson -- the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for School Food -- is holding a breakfast on Tuesday morning to call on the government to do more to tackle child obesity. However, Hodgson is not alone in her mission -- the Labour MP appears to have teamed up with Flora. In an email for the event sent out to hacks, Hodgson invites attendees 'on behalf of Flora'.

Following the Sunday Mirror's claim that Keith Vaz is leading a double life paying young male escorts for sex, the MP for Leicester East is expected to step down from his role as the head of the Home Affairs select committee. In the texts and video footage published by the paper, Vaz appears to inquire about purchasing 'coke' as well as sending texts asking the escorts to 'try and pick up some poppers'. While Vaz disputes the paper's version of events, doubts have now been raised over the validity of an investigation the MP launched in 2011 into the effects of cocaine. However, it's Vaz's comments on poppers that have piqued Mr S's interest.

Once upon a time Jeremy Corbyn said that he would not bring back Labour's mandatory reselection of the Eighties if elected leader. However, it seems that the recent Labour coup has caused him to have a change of heart. Just last month, Corbyn refused to rule out Labour MPs facing mandatory reselection battles before being allowed to stand. So, it's rather handy timing that a Corbynista has only just gone and published a guide on 'How to Select or Reselect Your MP': 'If you are reading this, chances are either you are not entirely happy with your Westminster representative’s performance, or you know or suspect that your Constituency Labour Party will need to choose a new candidate next time round, for any one of a range of reasons.

Since the British people voted for Brexit in June, there has been a sense of disbelief among luvvies. While Charlotte Church has demanded her 'f---ing European Union back', Mr S's colleague Lloyd Evans reports that the comedy at this year's Edinburgh Fringe harboured a 'pleb-hating mood' when it came to the referendum result. So, Mr S was pleased to learn that the same cannot be said for everyone in show-business. In an interview with the Sunday Times Magazine, Sharon Osbourne -- the X Factor judge and wife of Ozzy Osbourne -- outs herself as a Brexiteer.

After the nation voted in favour of Brexit in the EU referendum, Jeremy Corbyn faced a coup from Labour MPs left unsatisfied with his efforts for Remain. Leading the charge, Hilary Benn sparked a round of mass frontbench resignations after he said there was ‘no confidence' in Corbyn's ability to win the next election. However, could it all have been part of an elaborate trick? Mr S only asks after Paul Mason appeared on Broadcasting House to discuss the situation. The former Channel 4 economics editor turned revolutionary said that he was certain Corbyn would win a general election: 'I think Jeremy Corbyn will win. Or let's put it this way, he will be in a position to form a government.

When Andy Coulson stepped down as David Cameron's director of communications in 2011 over phone hacking allegations, it made front page news. In the subsequent trial, Coulson was sentenced to 18 months for conspiracy to hack phones. So as Coulson embarks on a new chapter in his life, Mr S was intrigued to read an interview Coulson has given to the Evening Standard to promote his communications company, Coulson Chappell. In the interview, Coulson answers a range of pre-set questions that a celebrity is asked each week for ES Magazine's 'My London' section. When asked who his hero is, Coulson names Winston Churchill, before claiming the politician would not 'have survived more than a year in modern politics'.

It's exactly one month until Labour conference and the party's security shambles just got a whole lot worse. After the NEC voted to boycott G4S, the only firm willing to do the job were Showsec, a non-unionised security firm. This option was deemed unsatisfactory and so the party have had to go 'cap in hand' to G4S. Alas, the Telegraph reports that the firm rejected Labour's offer over concerns about 'staff safety'. So, will the conference be cancelled? There is another option. The party could ask the police for extra security. However, this would cost them as where security workers for Showsec cost around £9 per hour, a PC comes to £59.65 an hour. By way of assistance, Mr S has come up with a rough estimate of what the party should start put to aside for this.