Steerpike

Although Diane Abbott's Christmas card efforts have been well-documented this year -- with the Labour MP even finding time to write them during hostile meetings of the PLP, Nigel Evans is surely a contender for the 'most striking Christmas card' award. Evans has today sent out his own batch of cards which feature the man himself looking pensively into the distance. Happily they also tick the festive-box thanks to a charming Christmas tree mug he clutches in the shot: Good to see he has so much time on his hands.

Lucy Allan has come under fire this month after she was accused of faking a death threat from a constituent. The Conservative MP posted a message from a user by the name of Rusty on her Facebook which asked her to rethink her stance on Syria airstrikes. While the message was hardly polite, the worst part came at the end with a sign-off that read 'unless you die'. However, the email's author denied writing the final line and posted on her Facebook to confront her about the edit. Since the incident Allen has released a statement admitting that she did add the line 'unless you die'. However, she insists that this was a threat she had also received that day and she had simply merged the two: The apology failed to wash with many, including the author of the original email.

Over the weekend a man attacked passengers at Leytonstone tube station, claiming he was acting in protest at the government's decision to carry out airstrikes on Syria. One small ray of light to emerge from the incident -- which left three injured -- was a video of the aftermath in which a man shouts at the offender: 'you ain't no Muslim, bruv'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYjGaxYhDuQ Since then the phrase has gone viral, with many tweeting it online as an act of solidarity.

Although David Cameron recently made a promise to make broadband available to everyone in Britain, not everyone in his cabinet appears to be so on-message. Speaking at yesterday's UK Israel Tech Hub event at Wayra Telefonica Accelerator's HQ, Sajid Javid disclosed the preferred method of punishment that operates in his own household: 'I'll start by saying this, when I was a kid and my parents wanted to punish me if I'd been a naughty boy, they'd say "right that's it, you're not going to be allowed to play cricket anymore" and now that I've got kids of my own, my way of punishing them if they are naughty is to change the WiFi password.' As the Business Secretary sat down to hear about the apps of tomorrow at the event, he promised to give his own honest feedback.

Covering the upcoming Syria vote is proving to be a challenge for hacks at the Guardian. Steerpike understands that the paper is having a difficult time deciding its editorial line on the issue which is currently undermining Jeremy Corbyn's leadership. Meanwhile, the little fact that Corbyn's head of comms Seumas Milne -- the Guardian columnist and associate editor -- is on leave from the paper only complicates matters further. Now the New Statesman's George Eaton reports that the Guardian are even having issues when it comes to their insider briefings.

Jeremy Corbyn is not having a good day. A large number of Labour MPs are uniting against him over his stance on Syria, while the news that the Labour party has lifted its suspension of his aide Andrew Fisher has been met with hostility by Caroline Flint and Siobhain McDonagh. With the knives out for the Labour leader, happily Corbyn can at least rely on the support of one man at this testing time. Step forward David Icke. Yes, the purple-tracksuit-wearing-lizard-conspiracist has tweeted his support for Corbyn, sharing a charming clip art picture urging him to 'stand by your principles'. https://twitter.com/davidicke/status/670230963167739904 While Corbyn needs all the friends he can get right now, he may need to treat his new cheerleader with caution.

MPs in the Commons are currently debating whether or not to vote in favour of airstrikes in Syria, after the Prime Minister delivered a statement on the issue this morning. As members of the opposition -- including Dennis Skinner and Chris Leslie -- raise questions over the potential airstrikes, where are the self-titled 'real opposition'? Well, for all their talk, the SNP's foreign affairs spokesperson is nowhere to be seen during this Westminster debate. Instead Alex Salmond has decided it is the opportune time to take a trip up to Edinburgh to attend First Minister's Questions at Scottish Parliament.