Steerpike

Last night's Question Time saw David Dimbleby joined by Anna Soubry, Chris Bryant, Douglas Carswell, economist Ruth Lea and Irvine Welsh. As Soubry, Bryant and Carswell all bickered about the government's use of £9m of taxpayers' money for EU leaflets, Welsh -- who lives in Chicago -- said that even if he had a vote, he probably wouldn't use it. While the Trainspotting author leans towards Brexit, he says the choice is a 'spurious' one as either way the economic system will not work to the advantage of the masses: 'It's a spurious choice, life goes on very much in the same way and we've seen how the world economy operates. How the global economy operates and how it operates to the advantage of very few people and the disadvantage of many people.

Today David Cameron is trying to win the youth vote in the upcoming EU referendum. To do this, he has given a speech to students at Exeter University -- claiming that young people will be be hit hardest in the event of Brexit. Taking questions from the audience after his speech, one student pointed out that it may be difficult for many youngsters to vote given that the referendum clashes with Glastonbury. Answering the question, Cameron attempted to get the crowd on side by confessing that he too loves the music festival. However, rather than attend the lively festivities, he makes sure he watches it 'at home in front of a warm fire'. However, Mr S is slightly suspicious of Cameron's claim. After all, Glastonbury takes place in the summer.

Oh dear. With Sadiq Khan leading the polls ahead of the upcoming London mayoral election, Zac Goldsmith has his work cut out when it comes to convincing swing voters to vote blue. As part of this, the Old Etonian needs to show that he has a firm understanding of Londoners' needs. Alas, his efforts hit a bump in the road today thanks to an awkward BBC interview. The Conservative mayoral candidate was quizzed by Norman Smith in the back of a cab for the Victoria Derbyshire show. Goldsmith was quick to make the point that he -- like the majority of Londoners -- regularly uses the tube. However, when Smith proceeded to quiz him on London tube stops, Goldsmith began to sound a lot less convincing: NS: Do you use the tube? ZG: Yeah...

In March, Zac Goldsmith was named the most 'pro-business' London mayoral candidate in a ComRes poll. According to the survey, 65 per cent of Londoners think Goldsmith is pro-business, compared with 39 per cent for Sadiq Khan. However, despite this vote of confidence in Goldsmith's approach to business, a closer look at the Conservative mayoral candidate's CV suggests that he may actually be lacking in business acumen on a personal level. Despite several attempts at running businesses, few of his ventures have taken off. In fact, of eight companies he has been involved with, six have dissolved and one is losing money. One of Goldsmith's first attempts at business was as a director of Ecologist Consultants Limited.

During Ed Miliband's time as Labour leader, he was subject to opposition from MPs in his own party as those in other parties. In fact, Miliband couldn't even rely on his own family for unconditional support, with his brother David -- who had lost out to Ed in the Labour leadership election -- seldom praising his performance. Still, at least Ed can take heart that he's not the only Labour leader that his brother has little positive to say about. In an interview with ES Magazine, the former Foreign Secretary -- who quit UK politics to head up International Rescue in New York -- is scant on praise for Jeremy Corbyn: 'He’s won his majority and the proof of the pudding is in the eating: how does he lead? Does he lead us into government?

Zac Goldsmith's mayoral campaign hit a bum note this month when his attempts to reach out to the Indian community backfired. The Conservative MP found himself accused of 'racially profiling' voters who have Indian sounding names with patronising leaflets. Happily he appears to have a different plan in place when it comes to winning over the Pakistani vote. Step forward Imran Khan. The Pakistani politician, and former cricketer, has endorsed Goldsmith's mayoral bid. Khan says Goldsmith has the 'leadership capabilities to make a great mayor': https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/712618962262089728 https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/712620102718529536 So, what exactly is it about Zac's campaign that has attracted the attention of a prominent Pakistani politician?

This week Sir Alan Duncan penned a piece for the Telegraph entitled 'why this lifelong Eurosceptic is now voting to stay in'. In this, the Conservative MP explained the reasons he is backing Remain. To show how torn he had been over the decision, Duncan revealed that he had even met with Vote Leave ahead of opting to join the In camp: 'I am one of those who many expected in the referendum campaign to be a fervent advocate of leaving. Until recently I also expected it of myself – even going so far as to speak to the Leave organisers at their HQ.' However, Vote Leave's Matthew Elliott has put forward a different version of events. He claims that Duncan actually went a step further than just visiting their offices.

The upcoming EU referendum has proved to be a divisive issue for families as well as politicians. With Boris Johnson the lone Out-er among his siblings, another famous family are now to take different sides in the great debate. Although Jeremy Corbyn is known to have held Eurosceptic views in the past -- recently deleting articles scathing of Brussels from his website, the Labour leader insists that he is backing Remain. However, Mr S understands that his brother Piers is to get behind the Leave campaign.

It's been a bad week for the Tories, but it hasn't exactly been a great week for Labour. After a list categorising Labour MPs as 'supportive' or 'hostile' towards Jeremy Corbyn was leaked, things seem to have taken a turn for the worse, because it appears that Corbynistas are now ranking MPs in terms of how 'politically black' they are. The Evening Standard reports that during a speech given by Marlene Ellis - a Momentum activist and member of Chuka Umunna’s local party - she claims that her local Labour party branch in Lambeth is 'very, very right-wing'.

With the PLP more divided than ever today thanks to the discovery of Team Corbyn's 'hostile list' -- which ranks MPs in terms of the their loyalty to the leader -- tensions are high among Labour politicians. Now it appears that Team Hostile have decided to have some fun. 'Hostile' MP Jamie Reed claims to have 'uncovered' a new list which contains 'in-depth profiling' of the most anti-Corbyn Labour MPs. https://twitter.com/jreedmp/status/712694286639374336 While this list is clearly a spoof, it's alarming to see that MPs are now using their time to fuel in-fighting with playground-style pranks.