Steerpike

There has been much speculation this week regarding rumours that Michael Gove has a beard. The former Justice Secretary was spotted on Tuesday in the Palace of Westminster with what appeared to be a new bout of facial hair. Today photos have emerged of Gove's whiskers, as his wife Sarah Vine confirmed the news in Wednesday's Daily Mail. Alas, she has given the beard a lukewarm verdict. Vine says that although Gove is 'enjoying his new hipster look', she's growing tired of men getting to let their 'facial hair grow wild and free as they relax their regimes' in summer.

After Nigel Farage achieved his aim of taking Britain out of the EU, he announced that he would be stepping down as leader of Ukip. However, with the subsequent leadership race since facing several setbacks -- with Steven Woolfe ruled ineligible and Bill Etheridge now caught up in a viagra row -- many kippers are already missing the days of Farage. While Farage has promised to stay closely involved with his party, could he be planning a German getaway?

As Theresa May's recently re-shuffled Cabinet get underway with the big task at hand, spare a thought for those who are having to get used to being on the sidelines. There was a cross-party outcry when Ed Vaizey was axed as culture minister with MPs from both Labour and the SNP praising his work in the role. Alas it seems that Vaizey is finding it difficult to adjust to a return to the backbench.

Now that Nigel Farage is stepping away from frontline politics, he has more time to focus on his family, television career and... appearance. In an interview for Russia Today (natch) with Sam Delaney, Farage has unveiled his new facial hair. With the look so far receiving a mixed reception online -- with some likening it to that of an American daytime television host -- Mr S welcomes your caption suggestions. The winner will be announced on Monday. Update: … and the winner is K G Barrett for coming up with a solution to Ukip's troubles in their leadership contest -- with the caption: ‘Nigel Farage? I'm sorry, I have never heard of him. My name is John Bull, and I'm standing for leadership of Ukip’.

Although Labour Conference is set to take place next month, doubts have surfaced over whether it will go ahead thanks to a security snag. After the party decided to boycott G4S -- their usual security supplier -- they have been left with few options when it comes to security firms for the event. A leaked memo to Guido last week revealed that the only security firm available to Labour at present is Liverpool-based Showsec. Alas, questions have been raised over their suitability as they are in the midst of a row with the GMB after being accused of not letting staff unionise. However, Mr S understands there is another option on the table.

Spare a thought for Eddie Izzard. Every campaign the cross-dressing comedian attaches himself to has a tendency to end in failure. After backing Ed Miliband in the General Election, Izzard found himself on the losing side once again in the EU referendum campaign when his tour of university campuses failed to swing it for Remain. Today he has missed out on a place on Labour's National Executive Committee. Izzard had hoped to be elected onto the party's NEC as part of his efforts to carve a career in politics. However, he ended up coming eighth, with the six available seats going to more Corbynista candidates. https://twitter.

Now that Michael Gove has returned to the backbenches, the former Justice Secretary can take heart that his new role will at least save him some awkward meetings, say for example, with the Queen. In an upcoming BBC documentary on Brexit, Nick Clegg blames Gove for the Sun's 'the Queen backs Brexit' splash. Published in March, the paper reported that the Queen clashed with Nick Clegg -- then Deputy Prime Minister -- over Europe at a lunch in 2011 at which Her Majesty declared the EU was ‘heading in the wrong direction’. Although Gove has previously denied being behind the story -- which the palace complained to Ipso about -- Clegg would care to disagree.

As David Cameron continues to receive flak over his resignation honours list, yesterday his old pal Steve Hilton stuck his head above the parapet to make his criticism be known. Not content with going against his old boss on the EU, Hilton -- who is Cameron's former director of strategy -- says the honours system is 'corrupt'. Alas it turns out not everyone on the Tory benches is so happy about Hilton sharing his views from across the pond. Richard Benyon, the former environment minister, took to Twitter to call Hilton a 'pompous arse': https://twitter.com/RichardBenyonMP/status/761118214386364416 It turns out that Hugo Swire -- who coincidentally received a knighthood in the aforementioned resignation honours -- agrees with Benyon.

Although Jeremy Corbyn has previously suggested that he is against the creation of new peers, the Labour leader appears to take a different approach when it comes to the chair of his anti-Semitism inquiry. After weeks of speculation that Corbyn was poised to give Shami Chakrabarti -- who recently found that the party was not overrun with anti-Semitism -- a peerage, today the news has been confirmed in the official resignation honours list: In a statement on the decision, Labour say they are 'delighted' to confirm Chakrabarti's appointment to the House of Lords. They refrain, however, from addressing concerns that this suggests a conflict of interest.

With Scottish Labour now the third biggest party in Scotland following disastrous election results in May, it's safe to say that its members have seen better times. However, there does appear to be one positive to the beleaguered party's lagging popularity: it's never been easier to get involved. Today Scottish Labour have sent out an email to their full distribution list -- including members of the press -- asking recipients to stand in the local elections: Alas it turns out the party have now got cold feet about asking members of the media to stand.