Steerpike

Although John McDonnell has been busy of late helping fight off the Labour coup, he was able to find time this week to mark the 30th anniversary of the rate-capping rebellion of the eighties. The Shadow Chancellor joined forces with Ted Knight --  the former leader of Lambeth council who once warned 'no compromise with the electorate' -- to reminisce about the patch of history which saw the group earn the tabloid title ‘the loony left’. Speaking at Clapham library in front of a crowd of Momentum activists -- who regularly referred to the Labour MPs behind the no confidence vote in Corbyn as the '172 Judas Iscariots' -- McDonnell talked about his time as the GLC’s finance committee chairman.

Since Andrea Leadsom announced her leadership bid, the Conservative candidate has been dogged by allegations that she lacks the experience and knowledge to lead her party -- let alone the country. Reports this week from Leadsom's former colleagues claiming she exaggerated her banking credentials on her CV have only fuelled concerns that she could be out of her depth. Now Mr S understands that Leadsom could be in breach of parliamentary rules over the registered address of her leadership campaign.

After Michael Gove was knocked out of the Tory leadership race in today's vote, Theresa May will go head-to-head with Andrea Leadsom in the race to be the next Prime Minister. So, with a prospect of a Leadsom-led government now looming, what would Leadsom's Britain look like? Thanks to an old blog dating back to 2006, we have a glimpse of her vision for the country. What's more, it seems that Leadsom actually has a recipe for a 'perfect British society'.

In recent weeks, Westminster politicians have found themselves compared to the characters of House of Cards and Game of Thrones over their post-referendum antics. Happily, parliamentarians were able to put such differences aside on Wednesday night as they took a well-deserved break from work at The Spectator summer party. As Labour's Rachel Reeves and Liz Kendall caught up with Liz Truss, Laurence Fox -- the Lewis actor -- put on a passionate display for the cameras with his male companion for the evening. Meanwhile with a Tory leadership contest underway, Theresa May made sure to do the rounds and rally support for her campaign at the champagne-fuelled bash.

Don't expect to see Ken Clarke on Sky News anytime soon. The former Chancellor has been left red-faced after the broadcaster aired footage of him engaging in a very honest assessment of the Tory leadership -- not realising the camera was rolling. No candidate mentioned got off scot-free during his lively discussion with Sir Malcolm Rifkind. While raising the prospect of Michael Gove as Prime Minister, Clarke expressed concerns about his 'wild' views on foreign policy -- concluding that, with the Justice Secretary as PM, Britain would go to war with 'at least three countries at once': 'I remember having a discussion once about something we should do in Syria or Iraq and he was so wild that I remember exchanging looks with Liam Fox., who's much more right-wing than me.

After a week of Shadow Cabinet resignations amid a Labour coup to oust Jeremy Corbyn, there have been several theories doing the rounds as to what it means for the party. While some have suggested that Corbyn's director of communications Seumas Milne is stopping Corbyn from resigning, there have been reports that he will resign and allow John McDonnell to run. However, today Corbyn has decided to set the record straight. In a -- rather clunky -- video message to Labour members, Corbyn declares that he is not going anywhere: 'I have a huge responsibility, I'm carrying out that responsibility and I'm carrying on with that responsibility.' https://twitter.

So 17 million people vote to take Britain out of the European Union  – but 40,000 of the Remainers took to the streets of London today to protest. We heard the voices of Britain’s growing anti-democratic movement: those who believe that Brexit was the result of consulting voters who were confused, malign, northern – or all three. Who, the Bremain protesters seemed to ask, are these people? Where the hell is Dunstable? Why do we Londoners allow them them vote? Every revolution has its reactionaries, and they were on the march today. Mr S was reassured to see the well-heeled crowd mocking themselves, with placards referencing 80s and 90s pop songs (“Never gonna give EU up”, “Nothing compares to EU”) etc.

Although Mr S is running his own Michael Gove inspired Game of Thrones competition for readers, the Justice Secretary's colleagues also can't seem to resist sticking the knife-in when it comes to picking which machiavellian character Gove best resembles. After Gove turned on his former ally Boris Johnson, Ben Wallace, the Conservative MP for Wyre and Preston, has claimed that when it comes to George RR Martin's fantasy novels, Gove is Theon Greyjoy -- or at least will be once Wallace is finished with him. Given that Greyjoy is best known for having his penis cut off, this doesn't bode overly well for Gove. https://twitter.

Who ever does become the new Conservative leader is going to face a difficult challenge uniting the party, let alone leading the Brexit negotiations. Following Michael Gove's decision to run for Tory leader without bothering to tell Boris Johnson, a number of BoJo allies are distinctly unimpressed with the Justice Secretary. Perhaps none more so than Jake Berry. The Conservative MP for Rossendale and Darwen has taken to Twitter to declare that there is a special place in hell for people like Gove. Mr S suspects Gove can safely assume Berry will not be getting behind his last minute leadership bid. Update: Berry isn't backing down... even if he is deleting his tweets.