Steerpike

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.

With the Conservatives currently experiencing inner party turmoil following Iain Duncan Smith's resignation over the Chancellor's Budget, there are concerns that in-fighting may soon overshadow the party's work. However, despite several backbenchers speaking out about their doubts in George Osborne's ability,  not every Tory is so fussed about the growing row. In an interview with Conservative Home, Nicholas Soames has offered his take on the situation. The Tory grandee says that Duncan Smith's resignation is simply an 'inconvenience' even though the media reaction suggests that there has 'been a coup by a black African dictator'.

With George Osborne's disastrous Budget the main topic of conversation today in the Chamber, Jeremy Corbyn surprised his colleagues by opting not to mention the Tories' current inner-party turmoil -- let alone Iain Duncan Smith's resignation -- in his speech. Instead it fell on his estranged comrades Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall to land some blows. Happily Dennis Skinner also joined in -- offering up one of his trademark one-liners. He asked David Cameron whether he would pledge to make this Budget Osborne's last: 'Will the Prime Minister give us an assurance that in the view of the financial mess that's been created with this Budget that this will be the Chancellor of Exchequer's last Budget? He's had eight already, only cats have nine lives.