Steerpike

Although the EU referendum is supposed to be an issue which transcends party politics, the memo is yet to be received by Richard Burgon. Labour's blunder-prone shadow City minister managed to bother those on both sides of the House today thanks to his question on the EU. RB: If the British people vote to leave the European union, will the Prime Minister resign -- yes or no? DC: No https://twitter.com/daily_politics/status/707543898319552513 Given that Labour official backing the Remain camp, it's hard to see what good he hoped to achieve with this question given that he is supposed to share a common cause with Cameron. Perhaps for this reason, his words were met with looks of disdain from some of his fellow Labour MPs including Rachel Reeves: https://vine.

This week Yvette Cooper was taken to task by Nick Ferrari on LBC over her refugee pledge. Although the former Labour MP had declared that she would be happy to house refugees in her own property, it turns out that she hasn't actually done so: NF: Have you taken yours yet Yvette? YC: No that’s what I said, because the government has said... In the interest of fairness, Mr S thought it best to check in with another politician who had pledged to take in refugees. Step forward Nicola Sturgeon. Back in September, the SNP leader said she would be 'more than happy' to take in refugees into her own home. 'Yes, I would be absolutely happy to do that as part of a bigger, wider, organised approach.

This week Nigel Farage revealed that he had been left 'worried' about Boris Johnson's ability to campaign for Brexit after his 'slightly shambolic' North London press conference. While the Ukip leader insists he has since come round to Johnson's involvement, Mr S wonders what he will make of the Mayor of London's turn on The Andrew Marr show. Johnson appeared on the BBC show to put forward the case for leaving the EU. However, what followed was a tense exchange between Johnson and Marr as each tried to set the interview agenda. With Boris keen to speak about the single market and sovereignty, he clashed with Marr when the presenter attempted to change topic: AM: Let's move on to tipper trucks just for a second.

To the Conrad hotel in St James where Nigel Farage went head to head with former Labour spinner John McTernan in a Ladbrokes' Brexit debate. Although the EU was the number one topic on the agenda, the panel chair Isabel Oakeshott -- who is the co-author of Call Me Dave -- managed to get pig on the menu as she recalled an email McTernan had sent about a journalist -- during his time advising Julia Gillard in Australia: 'This was an order as to how this journalist was to be treated: dead -- not ever, no transcripts, no returned calls, dead, forever -- that's an order.' She said that the email summed up Number 10's attitude to her since the release of Call Me Dave -- which included a passage suggesting the Prime Minister had once had intimate relations with a dead pig.

As Zac Goldsmith fights to be the next Mayor of London against Labour's Sadiq Khan, he is striving to appeal to all Londoners. Alas, somewhere in the process of doing this, he appears to have got a bit confused. In an interview with Pink News -- the news website aimed at the LGBT community, Goldsmith said that he wanted to be a mayor for everyone, employing the term 'pansexual' to try and make his point: Pink News: Would you like to be the mayor for everyone? ZG: I would use the term pansexual here, if my understanding is correct. https://vine.co/v/iXa9lEB5Jrx While Mr S suspects that Goldsmith means that he wants to appeal to all Londoners, given that the term pansexual means not being limited by gender in sexual choice, he may wish to rephrase in future...

When Richard Burgon appeared on Channel 4 News last year to defend John McDonnell over his fiscal charter U-turn, the shadow City Minister struggled to make a good impression. On top of not knowing what the deficit was expected to be for 2015, he appeared to concede that he was yet to meet with anyone in the City. So, it was a marked improvement on today's Daily Politics when Burgon actually managed to name the current deficit amount. He then went on to say that his party was committed to getting the deficit down. So, how would they go about doing this? RB: Through investment for long term growth AN: But doesn't that cost you more money?

This week Jeremy Corbyn provided the Tories with much comedy fodder after he announced that Syriza's Yanis Varoufakis would be advising Labour. It was then revealed that Varoufakis's old chum Paul Mason -- who is stepping down from his role as Channel 4's economics editor -- will also be helping the party -- contributing a lecture to Labour’s New Economics series. Osborne couldn't resist ridiculing John McDonnell over the appointments during Treasury questions.