Steerpike

The money is moving. Boris Johnson is now the bookies’ favourite to become the next leader of the Conservative Party. According to Ladbrokes he’s at 9/4, with Theresa May and George Osborne trailing him at 4/1 and 5/1, respectively. Plainly, Boris reckons that David Cameron is on-course to lose the next election, or else he wouldn't have made today’s annoucemnent. The turf accountants agree with him. They have Ed Miliband at 4/5 on to be the next Prime Minister, while BoJo stands at 5/1. Could it ever happen for BoJo, though? He’s 7/2 to make it to Number 10 ‘at any time’. Talking of bets, our own columnist Toby Young will be pleased.

Now, now, no laughing at the back. Less than 12 hours after representing the government at WW1 commemorations, Baroness Warsi has quit — citing the government’s policy toward Gaza and the Middle East as the reason behind her departure. However, there is growing belief that the bungling baroness’s exit has something to do with the ‘government’s policy towards Baroness Warsi’, as Dan Hodges puts it. One Tory source said today that she has been in a sulk ever since the reshuffle, when she was passed over for promotion to Foreign Secretary (a delusional desire, if ever there was one, if indeed it was her desire). Tory MPs say that Warsi made it known that she would like to leave before the reshuffle.

With the delicacy of an Israeli F-16, the Tories entered the summer campaign today with an achingly dull speech in Westminster. Something about Labour and the unions. Mud flew everywhere. You know the drill. It was less than a minute — forty seven seconds to be precise — before the charisma-free zone that is Chris Grayling spluttered the Tory catchphrase ‘long term economic plan’. The fun did not end there. Oh no. Grayling is the model of the modern politician; but, even so, it is impressive for a man to speak for twenty minutes almost entirely in banal cliché. Apparently it’s all a ‘big con’.

Derision met Labour when news emerged that more than half of its prospective parliamentary candidates are former special advisers, party workers, researchers, lobbyists or ex-MPs. Ed Miliband (PPE, Corpus Christi College, Oxford) heralded a ‘new politics’ when he took over the party; yet his top team embodies the political class: Ed Balls (PPE, Keble College, Oxford), his wife Yvette Cooper (PPE, Balliol College, Oxford); Angela Eagle (PPE, St John’s College, Oxford) and her sister Maria Eagle (PPE, Pembroke College, Oxford). Some Labour frontbenchers who didn’t go to Oxford worked as Special Advisers for the last Labour government; many others did both. Most of us, of course, have done neither. There is a divide between the rulers and the ruled.

Ed Miliband has suggested that there be a public version of Prime Minister’s Questions. This courageous idea makes Mr S want Miliband to be prime minister. What would you ask him?

What were Labour thinking? Against the background of Ukraine and Gaza, the only domestic story likely to cut through is an economic one. The news today is dominated by David Cameron, George Osborne and Nick Clegg wallowing in the success of the British economy. So what did Ed Miliband do? He made a speech about presentation for the Westminster village, of course. The SAS is on standby to land in Ukraine, Gaza crumbles and the IMF gives the UK a gold star for economic performance; but, look over there, Ed's got something to say about the political-media nexus! Miliband's war on photo-ops is utterly laughable given that it came just days after he flew half-way round the world to pose for a picture with President Obama at a pointless meeting.

New Education Secretary Nicky Morgan wasted no time in stamping her mark on her department - sacking all three of Michael Gove's special advisers on Friday morning. Friends tell Mr S that Henry Cook, Beth Armstrong and Jamie Martin were 'keen to stay on in order to enable a smooth transition', but it was not to be. While a reshuffle often results in ministers' aides getting the bullet too, the way in which Morgan has conducted her clear out has raised eyebrows in Westminster. Morgan tasked senior civil servant Chris Wormald to do the dirty deed, expecting to be at the Chequers cabinet meeting on Friday morning. However, with the meeting cancelled because of the crisis in the Ukraine, Morgan returned to London.