Steerpike

Just what is it with the Department for Transport and phones? Back in November, Louise Haigh was forced to quit as Secretary of State after allegations about missing mobiles came to light. Then, last week, the Rail Minister Peter Hendy was revealed to have texted while, er, driving a Routemaster bus at rush hour. And today, Steerpike can reveal that the ministry’s mobile phone woes are not just confined to those at an elected level… For it seems that DfT officials have been following Louise Haigh’s lead in misplacing their electronic paraphernalia.

The cost of living crisis continues to afflict Brits across the country – but it would appear that Scottish government ministers aren't having such a bad time of it. In fact SNP ministers will see their pay packets boosted by a whopping £20,000 after First Minister John Swinney's government ended a voluntary pay freeze on salaries in a move the FM says was based on 'fairness'. Not everyone is impressed by the decision, however, with opposition politicians slamming it as a 'reward for failure'. Even SNP backbencher Fergus Ewing has taken a pop at party colleagues over the issue – tweeting this afternoon: 'I read that Scottish government ministers are to get a £20,000 pay rise; is this April the first?' Ouch.

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?