Steerpike

In a society obsessed with political correctness and progressiveness, nothing is sacred – not, it seems, even William Shakespeare. It transpires that the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, which owns a number of buildings in the bard's hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon, is working on plans to ensure the writer's place of origin will be 'decolonised'. The move, as reported by the Telegraph, follows concerns that depicting Shakespeare as one of the greatest playwrights 'benefits the ideology of white European supremacy'. Er, right. In a bid to push a 'more inclusive museum experience', the Birthplace Trust has announced it will distance itself from Western views on the poet and decolonise its vast collection.

To Canada, where Mark Carney is settling into his first week in the top job. The former Bank of England governor won a landslide victory in Sunday’s election and has been quick to turn his attention to the growing animosity between his nation and its neighbour over Donald Trump’s tariffs. But what prompted the new Liberal party leader to go for the gig in the first place? The answer, it transpires, lies with one Tony Blair.  According to Monday’s episode of the News Agents podcast, it was the New Labour stalwart who inspired Carney to run – after a luxury dinner and jaunt around West London. Co-host Emily Maitlis insisted that Carney had been considering going for the leadership ‘for a long time’.

It has not been Rachel Reeves's year. From accusations of CV embellishment to noisy backlash over the farmer's tax, the Chancellor has been fighting on all fronts as she battles her way towards the Spring spending review. And now, in yet another blow for Reeves, it transpires that her plans to increase the amount of tax paid by employers are predicted to lead to, er, a decrease in Britain's active workforce. Talk about lose-lose… The Treasury's James Murray admitted today, in response to a parliamentary question from Tory MP Wendy Morton, that the impact assessment of the effects of Labour's proposed employer national insurance contribution (NIC) hike hasn't yielded wholly positive results.

Well, well, well. After Guido Fawkes revealed that Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds had previously – and inaccurately – referred to himself as a solicitor, the Labour man has now been forced to rather publicly correct the record. While the Stalybridge and Hyde MP did receive solicitor training at Addleshaw Goddard for ten months, he left without qualifying to pursue a political career. Yet, similar to another of his colleagues, Reynolds was later found to have embellished his CV – even referring to himself as a 'solicitor' in a spoken contribution in the Commons. Not only has Reynolds never been registered on the Solicitors Regulation Authority's register, the job title is legally protected – and using it incorrectly puts one at odds with the Solicitors Act 1974.

There's drama in Labourland today as one backbencher appears to have had second thoughts about her stance on benefits payments – after the Get Britain Working group's open letter went out with her name on it. The letter, which has called upon Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall to introduce a 'new social contract' to get disability benefit claimants back to work, has ruffled feathers both with left-wing MPs and, er, one of its own signatories. Allison Gardner has taken to social media today to fume that her name 'shouldn't have been added' to the petition and assure her constituents she has requested its removal. Talk about a reverse ferret, eh? Slamming the note, Gardner raged: My name shouldn't have been added to that letter.

Today brings the news that the flailing Guardian Media Group has had to pay out ‘substantial damages’ to The Spectator’s Douglas Murray – after the Observer was found to have defamed him. In a court statement, lawyers for the paper said it ‘apologises unreservedly’ for the ‘false’ allegations it made about Murray in a piece about last summer’s riots. Oh dear… Last August, the Sunday newspaper published an article by journalist Kenan Malik on the summer riots, titled: ‘The roots of this unrest lie in the warping of genuine working class grievances.’ In his piece, Malik alluded to an interview between Murray and the ex-deputy prime minister of Australia John Anderson – in which the pair discussed Israel, Islam and immigration.

To the Covid Inquiry, the longest-running farce outside of the West End. With costs for the great gravy train now expected to top £200 million, Fleet Street hacks are certainly getting their money's worth. There was the mammoth grilling of a brooding Boris Johnson in December 2023. The ritual humiliation of 'simple' Simon Case back in May. And the spectacular sniping of Matt Hancock too at which the former Health Secretary concluded almost everyone was to blame except, er, himself! So who would be the latest ex-politician to enter into the crosshairs of Baroness Hallett today? Step forward Michael Gove, up before the inquiry to face questions about his role in Covid contracts.

Oh dear, it looks like the civil war engulfing Reform UK is showing no sign of simmering down. On Friday, the political party currently leading in the polls went into complete meltdown after it announced that it had reported one of its MPs, Rupert Lowe, to the police and was suspending the whip. Party chairman Zia Yusuf and chief whip Lee Anderson alleged that they had received complaints about serious bullying from Lowe, and accused him of making ‘threats of physical violence against our Party Chairman.’ For his part, Lowe has completely denied the allegations which he says are ‘untrue and false’ and says he is seeking legal advice.