Steerpike

Uh oh. There's trouble in Trumpland. Leader of the President's Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk has taken to his social media site today to post a video by Milton Friedman lauding the virtues of free markets and multi-stage supply chains – showing the US economist praising the 'magic' of the 'essential' free market and international trade. Less than a week after Trump imposed controversial new tariffs on around 90 countries across the world, the post has been viewed by some as a dig at the new President's policy. Talk about trouble in paradise… It's not the first intervention Musk has made about Trump's Liberation Day decision-making.

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'.

The economy may not be expanding, but Labour is determined Britain's airports will. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has today approved proposals to expand Luton Airport – with plans for a new terminal given a green light. So keen is the Labour minister to push the project, Alexander has overruled the Planning Inspectorate's advice that she reject the Development Consent Order over environmental concerns. How interesting… The move will pave the way for the cap on passenger numbers to be raised from 18 million to a whopping 32 million. The existing Terminal 1 is to be expanded while a new Terminal 2 will be constructed alongside taxiways and car parks. More than that, a new direct air-to-rail transport link – the Luton DART – will be built as part of the £2.4 billion project.

It's all kicking off in Bristol. On Friday, Reform UK announced that the multimillionaire Arron Banks was going to be their candidate for the mayoralty of the West of England. But the self-proclaimed 'bad boy of Brexit' faces opposition from overzealous apparatchiks on Bristol City Council. Officials from the Green-run authority have told Banks that he is not permitted to use his favoured slogan of 'Banksy for Bristol' on party literature – despite it, er, literally being a linguistic play on his name. Now, Reform UK has written to the council to demand that this be overturned. In a letter, seen by The Spectator, the party complains that: Any such restriction would be legally misconceived, unjustified, and liable to immediate challenge.

How do you achieve anything in British politics? It's simple: turn your cause into a TV drama. First, it was ITV's Mr Bates vs the Post Office. Now, it is Netflix and Adolescence. The release of the crime drama mini-series has sparked a veritable hue-and-cry about the urgent 'crisis' facing young British males. Keir Starmer proudly told the House last week that he has been watching it with his children; now the Prime Minister is encouraging schools across the country to show it to their pupils too. Netflix bosses must be delighted with all this free advertising... Given the litany of crises facing the country, Steerpike wondered if the streaming giant could now be compelled to turn its attention to other matters. Maybe a wistful paean to the joys of having a virgin steel industry?

Zut alors. The trial of the decade is concluding in France today, with major ramifications for the next presidential election in 2027. This morning Marine Le Pen and eight MEPs were found guilty of misappropriation of public funds. The case revolved around the alleged embezzlement of EU funds to pay RN staff for party work. Talk about being good Europeans!The RN leader was found to have misappropriated €474,000, in particular for the contracts of her bodyguard, Thierry Légier, and her former parliamentary attaché, Catherine Griset. Sentencing at the court in Paris will occur later today, with Le Pen potentially barred from holding public office for the next five years.

It’s the new rule of British politics: if you’re going to quit, do it on a Friday. Labour has had something of a bumpy first nine months in office. Sue Gray was out within 94 days – and now others are following her out the door too. This morning, Matthew Doyle, the No. 10 director of communications, announced he was standing down from the role. While there had been much talk of a ‘just stop Doyle’ movement within some Labour circles, the ex Blair aide had earned credit among many senior staff for his four years of service at Keir Starmer’s side.  Doyle’s role is to be split between former Sunday Times hack James Lyons, who will be responsible for communications strategy, and longtime Labour apparatchik Steph Driver, who will run delivery.

Talk about a belated Ides of March. It was less than 100 days before Keir Starmer sacked his first No. 10 Chief of Staff Sue Gray. To console the lifelong civil servant, Sir Keir rewarded her with a peerage, enabling her to spend the rest of her days making laws on the benches of the Upper House. And it seems that the noble Baroness of Tottenham has wasted no time in making the most of her new-found privileges, judging by her maiden speech in the Lords today. Gray offered an unashamed defence of ‘the Blob’ in her remarks before the House today, telling fellow peers that ‘When we hear the phrases of blobs, pen pushers, axes, chainsaws and other implements, they hear it too… we need them and other public servants to succeed.