Steerpike

Just what is it with Labour and transport? Less than five months after Louise Haigh was forced to resign as Secretary of State for her missing phone debacle, now another tech-loving transport minister is in hot water again. This time it is Peter Hendy, ennobled last summer and instilled as a junior minister at the Department for Transport. But it seems that roads could be the undoing of the new Rail Minister, according to the Times. The paper reports that Hendy has now admitted using a mobile phone at the wheel of a double-decker bus before subsequently reporting himself to the police. He was spotted texting a friend by a passenger while driving his vintage Routemaster through central London for charity at rush hour in March; the Met has now opened inquiries.

And here it is. Former prime minister Rishi Sunak's resignation honours have been published this afternoon with a number of former and current parliamentarians featuring in the impressive list. Ex-Chancellor Jeremy Hunt joins his former colleagues James Cleverly and Grant Shapps in being awarded a knighthood, while the list of former Cabinet ministers receiving peerages includes Mark Harper, Alister Jack and the Spectator's own Michael Gove.

Does partaking in mass killing, raping and hostage-taking make one a terrorist? Hamas isn't so sure. In a mind-boggling development, it transpires that the Palestinian Islamist group is employing lawyers to fight its designation as a proscribed terrorist group by the UK government. Instead, it argues, Hamas is a 'Palestinian Islamic liberation and resistance movement whose goal is to liberate Palestine and confront the Zionist project'. That's certainly one way to reframe the atrocities it has committed… Twenty years after Hamas' military wing was proscribed in the UK, its political wing – which runs Gaza – was also proscribed in 2021, making it a criminal offence to express support for it.

To Sir Ed Davey's Liberal Democrats. The fun-loving party made headlines during the general election campaign after its party leader was pictured on paddleboards, waterslides and even a bungee jump during the lead-up to the July poll. But while the party's strategy appeared all fun and games from afar, the Lib Dems were working far more tactically behind the scenes. Embarking on a mission to mercilessly target Tory areas, the Liberal Democrats used a rather, er, original rule of thumb to identify voters looking to jump ship: 'Does their constituency have a Gail's?' Going after consistencies that housed the luxury bakery chain appeared to work in Davey's favour – with the party emerging from the election with a whopping 72 MPs, up from 11.

Elon Musk strikes again! The tech billionaire and co-leader of Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency has lashed out for a second time at the President's top trade adviser Peter Navarro as tensions over tariffs ramp up in the White House. Now Musk has blasted Navarro as 'dumber than a sack of bricks' and 'truly a moron' in his latest pop at the government adviser. The gloves are coming off… The Twitter CEO has been sparring with Navarro since Trump's Liberation Day tariffs were announced last Wednesday. Musk's latest attacks come after Navarro suggested in an interview that the billionaire businessman's support of free trade was due to his car company Tesla requiring a number of foreign-made parts. Hitting back, Musk responded that: 'Tesla has the most American-made cars.

Stock markets around the world continue to plummet but Donald Trump has his mind on other matters: his tariff war with China. The American president has this afternoon hit back at Beijing's announcement on Friday that it would impose retaliatory tariffs of 34 per cent on US goods following Trump's 'Liberation Day' levies last week. Unleashing a fiery tirade on Truth Social today, Trump has fumed that if Xi Jinping does not withdraw his tax increase, the US will impose 'additional tariffs on China of 50 per cent' and terminate all scheduled talks with foreign power. Talk about pulling no punches, eh?

A former Labour minister was arrested on Friday on suspicion of rape and child sex offences. The Sun on Sunday tonight reports that Dan Norris, 65, MP for North East Somerset and Hanham, was arrested on Friday over claims of historic sexual offences against a girl and a rape allegation from the 2020s. Avon and Somerset Police confirmed he had also been held on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Labour has now confirmed that Norris has been suspended from the party and lost the whip in parliament. A party spokesman told the Sun that: ‘Dan Norris MP was immediately suspended by the Labour party upon being informed of his arrest. We cannot comment further while the police investigation is ongoing’.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats aren't best known for their ability to grab headlines – but today the spotlight is on them. At the group's spring conference in Inverness, leader Alex Cole-Hamilton this afternoon unveiled the latest addition to the party: the ex-Tory MSP who dramatically quit the Conservatives on Thursday after blasting their 'Trump-esque' style. Talk about a quick turnaround, eh? Emerging from the shadows, Jamie Greene MSP joked with the Lib Dem membership: 'I'm not sure who's more surprised to see me here – me or you!' Going on, the former Conservative politician and onetime leadership hopeful told his crowd that he had gone from being 'politically homeless in the last 24 hours to a new home'.