Steerpike

It’s the peak of the summer party season. Half a dozen events competed for the Westminster crowd last night. The bookies at Ladbrokes made themselves outsiders by holding their booze-up on a boat that cast off a tad too early in the evening. The Adam Smith Institute hosted a bash on the Thames, while a stuffy parliament office saw the Tory Awkward Squad raise a glass to David Davis. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Palace of Westminster, whisky cocktails flowed for the Ladies and Gentlemen of Her Majesty’s Loyal Press Corps, whose summer bash was sponsored by booze kings Diageo. In the quiet surroundings of Dean Yard, a stone’s throw from Westminster Abbey, the wonks of Policy Exchange were joined by a Pimms-fuelled Boris Johnson.

Ed Miliband struggled to reach ‘the journalistic community’ at his big speech and press conference today. ‘Where’s Sky, ah there, Mark isn’t it?’, asked Ed. ‘Alistair’ came the reply. Not content with this faux pas, Miliband failed to recognize the BBC’s Nick Robinson and managed to slight Channel Four’s pompous political editor Gary Gibbon. And there was some discussion in Fleet Street’s watering holes afterwards about whether Ed had called a Tim ‘Jim’. The Labour leader was clearly distracted. In the course of relating an anecdote about US politics, Miliband used the term ‘congressmen’.

The prime minister’s appearance at Wimbledon yesterday, and his invitation of Andy Murray to Downing Street, has got some miserable lefty tongues wagging. No doubt they are livid that the ‘Curse of Cameron’ has lifted, while the memory of Gordon ‘Jonah’ Brown putting the mockers on British sporting endeavour lives. Moaners will always moan that our politicians try to muscle in on sporting greats; but there is no doubt that the Prime Minister is a tennis fan. Despite his rather odd decision to wear a dark business suit on the hottest day of the year, he was clearly enjoying himself in the Royal Box and his face was a picture of delight when Andy Murray made his little bit of history. Cameron is also a dab hand with a racket.

Forget the expressions of joy and pain flitting across Kim Sears' and Judy Murray's faces as Andy served, volleyed and leapt to win Wimbledon: David Cameron and Alex Salmond's reactions to the match were far more entertaining. Cameron seems to have spent more of the afternoon looking behind him to check what it was that Salmond was up to: ...which was entirely unsurprising, given this photobomb from Scotland's First Minister: Meanwhile Salmond seemed a little disturbed by one of his fellow spectators: Mind you, at least Cameron and Salmond did enjoy most of the match... ...while Ed Miliband seemed a little, well, distracted: Perhaps he was thinking about doing this: https://twitter.

Lib Dem MP Martin Horwood resigns from Unite after taking offence at jokes made by Labour MP Ian Davidson about 'snivelling liberals' in the House of Commons. Here is the exchange: Ian Davidson: Well, the Whips have been to see me and they deployed the ultimate threat. They said, “If you think of voting for this, we will send round Len McCluskey.” I said, “I know Len McCluskey. Len McCluskey is a friend of mine. I had Len McCluskey’s support in the last general election. I had the support not only of Len McCluskey but of the GMB, Unison, UCATT and the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen, while opposing me were only Conservatives, nationalists and snivelling Liberals. And I got 60% of the vote.

Last night, a terrific party was held in Old Queen Street for The Spectator. Our editor Fraser Nelson, looking a little bleary eyed two days after the birth of his third child, still somehow managed to smile at Pippa Middleton, our sports and adventure correspondent.

Lord Bell, AKA the King of Spin, made some noise at the annual Freedom Dinner (established by libertarians to mark the anniversary of the smoking ban) last night at Canary Wharf’s cavernous Boisdale. He had stern words for the anti-tobacco lobby: ‘There is not one shred of scientific evidence of the existence of passive smoking and it’s one of the more terrible lies told by a democratically elected government in the world.' Bell, though, was only getting going. He aimed his real fire at some recent prime ministers, saying: ‘We could do that Blair devil eyes campaign, because he is actually the devil.

Handbags at the ready in the Department for Work and Pensions questions in the House of Commons this afternoon, as Gordon Brown's former lick-spittle Ian Austin attacked the government benches for never having gone hungry. Something, of course, that the shouty MP for Dudley is somewhat of an expert in. In 2007 he was among the 32 MPs to claim the full £400 in cash available  - without showing a single receipt - each month for food under the old expenses system. Iain Duncan Smith responded by calling Austin 'an empty barrel'. In pocketing £4,800 in one year on top of his salary, Austin was certainly rolling in it.

Margaret Thatcher’s death has reinvigorated her devout following in the Conservative Party. The current Prime Minister was wise to give the House of Lord’s terrace a wide berth last night. It was packed out for the summer party of Conservative Way Forward. This is the pressure group that was established to preserve ‘the lady’s legacy’. Young Dave was not the most popular person in the room. This became clear after the minute’s silence for the group’s deceased honorary president, when former defence minister Gerald Howarth took to the podium to greet ‘the conservative wing of the coalition’. He went on to slam the PM for ‘slashing defence spending while protecting international aid’.

Eric Pickles is a very popular figure around Westminster. This picture explains why. It is also 1,000 times funnier than the knackered 'Eric Pickles is a fat northerner' jokes that some of his witless cabinet colleagues crack on a habitual basis.