Steerpike

Although George Osborne was passed over for the role of Foreign Secretary in Theresa May's Cabinet reshuffle, the MP for Tatton is still keen to show that he can fly the flag for Brexit Britain. It follows that the former Chancellor of the Exchequer is set to be guest of honour at Tina Brown's Brexit bash in New York this week. According to Page Six, Osborne will join the top hack -- and one time Remain-er -- for a dinner which aims to show that the 'special relationship' can survive Brexit. With New York journalists perceiving this as Osborne's attempt to 'drum up trade with the US in the wake of his country’s shock exit from the European bloc', Mr S can't help but wonder if George has run his plans past Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary.

In last month's EU referendum, pundits and politicians were left surprised when Brexit triumphed with 52 per cent of the vote. Since then not everyone has taken the outcome lying down. While the SNP's Nicola Sturgeon is adamant that Scotland should not have to leave the EU, a number of Remain-ers in England -- including David Lammy -- have suggested the result should be overturned or ignored for the good of the people. Now one Scot has offered their two cents worth from across the pond. In an interview with the Scottish Herald, Alan Cumming -- the Good Wife actor who resides in New York -- has blamed the referendum result on... 'stupid English people': 'I was appalled when I heard the result. And I have three words to sum it up. Stupid. English. People.

Claws out, it's all kicking off in Downing Street. After a month of drastic change and bubbling tensions among Westminster's big beasts, things have started to turn violent. However, rather than May vs Osborne, it's the government's two top cats who can't seem to keep a lid on it. When David Cameron moved out of No.10, he left Larry the cat behind --insisting that he still loved him. In the MP for Witney's absence, Downing Street's resident mouser has struggled to cope. While little is yet known of his relationship with the new Prime Minister  it's Palmerston -- the Foreign Office cat -- who appears to be the cause of friction.

Today Jeremy Corbyn has launched his campaign ahead of the Labour leadership election. Corbyn, who is being challenged by Owen Smith, used the launch to announce that -- under him -- the next Labour government would introduce compulsory pay audits for companies with more than 21 staff -- in order to show whether or not they are discriminating against female employees. However when asked by Sky News if this meant he would publish an equal pay audit for his own office, Corbyn failed to commit. Perhaps that's for the best given that any such report is unlikely to make inspiring reading. Forget comparing the salary difference between women and men in the top jobs, when it comes to the Leader's Office it's men who tend to rule the roost.

After Jeremy Corbyn faced a vote of no confidence from Labour MPs over his lacklustre effort in the failed Remain campaign, a leadership contest is now underway. Corbyn and his challenger Owen Smith will spend the summer campaigning against one another for the leadership. However, in order to have a vote supporters only have until 5pm today to cough up £25 to join the party as a registered supporter. In order to encourage his supporters to do exactly this, Jeremy Corbyn has today tweeted a video of his new star supporter Michelle Dorrell. Michelle will look familiar to many.

Today Angela Eagle has announced that she is dropping out of the Labour leadership race. Her decision comes after a campaign that has seen Eagle struggle to catch a break since it first kicked off -- with hacks walking out of her campaign launch to attend Andrea Leadsom's. So, perhaps it's fitting that her campaign ended on a similar note. In an interview with Sky News, Eagle performed a routine sound test in which the producer checked the audio quality by asking her what she had had for breakfast. However, the broadcaster actually went live while this was going on. This meant viewers saw the former shadow business secretary repeatedly shout the word 'porridge' live on air, before she went on to explain why she was dropping out.

Oh dear. With nominations for the next Labour leader set to open in a matter of hours, now is not the best time for either leadership hopeful to suffer a PR disaster. Alas, this is exactly what has happened to Owen Smith thanks to an interview he gave to Sky News. In the interview, Smith appears to claim that he is normal because he has a wife and children: https://twitter.com/SuperRetroid/status/755049835938611205 Given that his leadership rival Angela Eagle is a lesbian with no children, his comments are not going down well with liberal Labour supporters. Many have taken his words to show prejudice towards the childless as well as the LGBT community.

With Labour in turmoil, Owen Smith and Angela Eagle have both spent their Sunday explaining why they should be the one to challenge Jeremy Corbyn for the leadership.  So with a leadership contest looming, how has Corbyn spent the weekend? Catching Pokémon, it turns out. In a short film for the BBC, the beleaguered Labour leader can be seen trying out Pokémon Go, the new phone app currently taking over the world. Unfortunately Corbyn hits an initial bump in the road after Seumas Milne -- his director of strategy and communications --  stands in the way of Corbyn's phone. Happily, they overcome this and his efforts are soon rewarded when Corbyn manages to catch the character Krabby; 'our work this morning has not been in vain'. Vive la Revolution!

This week, Mr S made his way to Boisdale to watch his Spectator comrade Rod Liddle give the key address at the fifth annual Freedom Dinner. Hosted by Forest, Liddle stayed on-message at the libertarian bash -- speaking freely on a range of topics from his Labour suspension to the Guardian's Comment is Free section. Here is the speech in full: Many thanks for inviting me here tonight. I have been told that I was picked to deliver this address from among a very large list of people, solely because I have children and am a mother. This gives me great empathy and understanding and also the right to amend my CV whenever the feeling takes me. That was a star which rose and fell rather speedily, wasn’t it? Before we even learned how to pronounce her name.

It's not a great day to be an ambitious Tory who attended a private school -- let alone Eton. After Theresa May promised to work to build a society with a focus on helping the working class rather than the rich, she has started by implementing this approach in her Cabinet. George Osborne, Nicky Morgan, Theresa Villiers and Oliver Letwin are among the privately-educated politicians to face the axe today. Meanwhile, the majority of the high profile briefs have gone to state school educated politicians. Alongside May, the Chancellor -- Philip Hammond -- and the Justice Secretary -- Liz Truss  -- attended a state school. Meanwhile Justine Greening has made history by becoming the first ever Education Secretary to attend a comprehensive.