Steerpike

A wincing Douglas Alexander told Newsnight last night that the tightening of the referendum polls ‘saw more £2 billion worth of value wiped off the stocks of Scottish companies.’ His pained expression revealed concern for ‘real people's pensions and the threat to real people's jobs... on the basis of a single opinion poll.’ Better Together are clinging to the markets as an indicator of the consequences of independence: ‘You don't need to take my word for it, look at the judgement of the market this afternoon – look at the judgement in relation to Scottish shares.’ But does Labour’s general election coordinator have any experience of speculation and mere words wiping out huge amount of value from the stock market?

Labour like to campaign with the slogan ‘our NHS’, but are they taking their claim of owning the health service a little bit too far? Dr Mark Hayes is standing for the party in Selby, Yorkshire yet remains head of the local NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). When questions were raised about a conflict of interest between the roles, the good doctor admitted using NHS resources for his campaign, saying ‘the CCG will protect me from unwanted media enquiries.’ Why exactly is the taxpayer stumping up to field awkward questions for a Labour candidate? If Labour do win, Hayes is out of a job: Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham has pledged to all but scrap CCGs all together. A turkey actually voting for Christmas.

It was widely noted that the Prime Minister remained grinning in his seat after PMQs to hear a Point of Order directed to the Speaker from Tory MP Simon Burns. Burns wanted to know whether the Speaker would withdraw his letter of recommendation for Carol Mills as Clerk of the House. The letter is currently languishing in Number 10. What's more, Mr Steerpike hears that a guffawing David Cameron fired up his backbenchers for today’s skirmish at last night’s meeting of Conservative MPs in the Boothroyd Room. ‘What does he want me to do with this letter?’ quipped the PM, adding: ‘Shall I just stuff it down the side of the sofa? Put it in the bin? Or shall we just forget we ever received it?

‘It was an utter humiliation’, says Bercow's biographer, after the Speaker was openly mocked by MPs as he retreated in the row over who will be the new Commons clerk.

Mr S could not help think that last night's Scottish CBI dinner looked a little dreary and frankly a bit 'budget'. The PM was coming to town; could they not have strung up some bunting at the very least? There was good reason the whole thing looked rubbish though: bureaucracy. The guest list was cut from 700 to 230 and the budget for the event slashed to just £10,000 after the Electoral Commission declared that this was a pro-union campaign event. The penpushers decreed: 'We are of the view that the CBI’s dinner does constitute campaigning and as a result we have sought detailed assurances from them and their suppliers about the cost of this event, including with comparison to previous years.

With the interventions of former Speaker Betty Boothroyd, ex-ministers -- including Jack Straw, Malcolm Rifkind and Margaret Beckett -- and the Clerk of the Australian Senate, Rosemary Laing, it is becoming increasingly hard for John Bercow to spin the fight over his choice for the replacement Commons clerk as a row with his 'usual suspect' critics. Yesterday's Times leader could not have been any clearer: 'Mr Bercow has done some good things as Speaker, and some of these would not have happened without his prickly personality. He has not minded irritating the executive by allowing more time to debate topical controversies. Yet he should beware of thinking that annoying everyone means he must be doing everything right.

It’s going to be the battle of the Georges in Bradford West at next year’s general election – and Mr S reckons it could be a worth keeping an eye on George Grant, the Tory candidate selected for the seat on Saturday. After helping to launch the Libya Herald, the country’s first post-Gaddafi English language newspaper, Grant was forced to flee in 2013 when his investigative work into Benghazi's extremist militias made him the target of abduction threats. Which is a somewhat sounder tale of adventure in the region than those of his Bradford West opponent, George Galloway – not least the Respect MP’s cosying up to the late Saddam Hussein.