Steerpike

First it was George Osborne on the 5:2 diet, then the Prime Minister revealed he had 'given up bread' in an attempt to shed some pre-election pounds. Today, Cameron has revealed further details of this vigorous health kick. Speaking in Hampshire, he claimed he rambles through the Oxfordshire countryside with his daughter Florence upon his shoulders 'to add to the exercise regime I am undertaking'. You be careful there, Prime Minister. Don't exert yourself too much.

Nigel Farage's secret is out. In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, the leader of Ukip let slip that he once voted for the Green Party. 'I voted Green in 1989 in the European elections,' Farage admits. While he fails to give any further explanation of why he supported a party that appears to be at loggerheads with his own views, Farage does go on to reveal the most insulting names he has been called. 'I was called a football hooligan once in public and I didn’t like that. I am many things but a hooligan I am not. I have been called everything this year, absolutely everything, racist, xenophobe – there’s a list as long as your arm,' he says.

'The Green Surge’ has already become a fixed feature of the election campaign, but are we just reliving the giant damp squib of ‘Cleggmania’? According to Green Party officials, their membership stands at 45,558. Since Cameron declared they should be in the TV debates, thousands have supposedly signed on the dotted line. Apparently, of the 14,780 new members that have signed up since 1 Jan 2015, just 151 are renewals. But there has been zero independent verification of the numbers; they are asking us to take their word for it. A spokesman tells Steerpike that the party was not prepared for the influx of new members: ‘Our servers did become overwhelmed for short periods. This was due to the quantity of hits to the site.

When Simon Danczuk met Nigel Farage for a pint in December, the Labour MP was accused of plotting a defection to Ukip. While Danczuk denied this at the time, his wife Karen appears to be warming to the idea herself. Karen, who announced that she will stand down as a Labour Councillor from her Kingsway ward, got better acquainted with Ukip members at a recent debate on the NHS. Quick photo with @DanJukes17 & @jackduffin UKIPs finest. KD pic.twitter.com/GLlfwbBHy9 — Cllr Karen Danczuk (@KarenDanczuk) January 19, 2015 Now, Mr S hears rumours that a photo of the selfie queen actually wearing a Ukip badge is currently doing the rounds for the right bidder. If published, it wouldn't be the first time a photograph has got Karen into hot water.

Since Jeremy Paxman quit Newsnight last year, he has hardly been discreet with regards to his feelings about the BBC's flagship current affairs show, claiming it is run by 12-year-olds. Now, he tells this week's Radio Times what programmes he has been enjoying of late, and surprise, surprise, Newsnight isn't one of them. 'I'm watching Take Me Out and listening to the World Service, where there's still real news,' he says. Paxman's penchant for ITV's dating show aside, could he be alluding to the direction Newsnight has taken under Ian Katz? In an interview this summer, the Newsnight editor went so far as to admit Paxman found his ideas 'infantile'. 'He’s dyspeptic about pretty much everything.

When Ukip officials arrived at Facebook HQ for a meet-and-greet, they were surprised to be led to a boardroom that went by the name of 'sceptical'. However, far from a tense affair, Steerpike's mole insists Facebook employees didn't mean anything by it. 'They swore it was entirely by chance,' a Ukip source tells Mr S. 'It was a fascinating meeting.

Uh oh, looks like Chuka Umunna hasn't been doing his homework. The shadow business secretary walked out of a live television interview on Sky News after he was asked his opinion on a letter Eric Pickles sent to Muslim leaders. The Labour MP, who was invited onto the show to talk about the economy, appeared distressed to be questioned on the issue as he had not read the controversial letter in question. His response was to wave his arm around in a fury before walking off air, as Steerpike's gif helpfully demonstrates. While Mr S is all for playing fair, surely Chuka should be reading his party’s own detailed media briefing that it sends out every day, explaining what the story is and what frontbenchers should say if they’re cornered?

Last week the Green Party announced that their membership has soared to 52,000, thanks to a little help from the free publicity awarded to them by the Prime Minister over the leaders' debate. However, Steerpike hears that all is not well at Green Party HQ, or their 'National Office' as the non-hierarchical collective delicately call it. 'Our systems have crashed,' Green peer Jenny Jones was heard loudly proclaiming at their press conference this morning. 'They can't cope with the numbers.' Well that's certainly one meaning to revolutionary cries of 'smash the system,' there was Mr S thinking that you couldn't go wrong with a carbon free pencil on a bit of recycled paper.