Steerpike

The Liberal Democrats have unveiled their funky new campaign poster this morning, only to unceremoniously dump it on a yellow line on an empty street in Westminster: Mr S is slightly concerned for the career prospects of whichever party bod designed the poster, as it appears they need to learn how to cross the road. In the UK we drive on the left. If you look left first and only then look right, you would get run over in the middle of the road. Or is looking left first simply a subliminal message about the direction the yellows will go in any future coalition negotiations? Perhaps Mr S is reading too much into this one.

Ed Miliband had a disastrous PMQs today after the Labour leader claimed the Tories would raise VAT, only to have David Cameron deny that he would increase the tax. Besides leaving Miliband lost for words, Cameron's pledge has also left a massive hole in Labour's election campaign. It was only yesterday that Ed Balls unveiled a snazzy new poster, which contained a big ‘VAT’ swinging into a warning about the Tories’ plans. With their key line now discredited, will someone find a landfill stuffed with Labour posters in a few days time?

Boris was waxing lyrical about Winston Churchill during his weekly LBC phone-in earlier when it all went a little wrong. Discussing the ‘many different phases Churchill’ went through ‘in his life’, Boris recalled that ‘in 1908 I think you’ll remember, he was in favour of cutting defence spending when he was going around with Lloyd George campaigning on social affairs.’ So far, so good. However, he then said this: ‘So indeed, in 1922 when he was, sorry, 1920, in the twenties when he was Chancellor, he was accused later on by his enemies of having been a great cutter of defence expenditure and there was a certain amount of truth in that.’ Churchill actually became Chancellor in 1924.

David Cameron is facing calls from Labour to discipline a local council candidate after they dressed as Oscar Pistorius for a costume party. Gregg Peers - who is standing for the Conservatives in a Cumbria County Council by-election - posted photos of himself in the fancy dress on his Facebook page. Labour's Liz Kendall has said the Prime Minister must 'show he takes violence against women seriously by taking immediate action against his candidate'. The MP for Leicester West adds that 'the Conservatives must explain why they promoted him to senior positions in their party'. But isn't it time for the Labour party to also show that they take violence against women seriously?

Are CCHQ already planning how to push through their next coalition? Mr S only asks as word reaches Steerpike that Conservative backbenchers have been urged to return to London immediately after the General Election in the potential event of a snap vote. The pressure is on for any future coalition to be put to the parliamentary party after this failed to happen in 2010. 'There is a lot of soreness about how the party was bounced last time around into accepting the last deal, and we shall not be bounced this time around,' a 1922 Committee source recently told the BBC.