Steerpike

To the curious case of Mike Amesbury. The former Labour politician for Runcorn and Helsby was on Monday handed a 10-week prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to punching a man in the street. But after appealing the sentence at Chester Crown Court today, Amesbury will now avoid prison. During the ex-Labour man's appeal hearing today, Judge Steven Everett imposed another 10-week prison sentence – but suspended it for two years. Instead of going to jail, Amesbury will be expected to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, undertake both a 12-month alcohol monitoring programme and an anger management course and do 20 days of rehabilitation work. Explaining his decision, Everett told the politician: It's been a very fine line.

With Reform surging in the polls, no one in No. 10 wants a by-election anytime soon. But thanks to 'Iron' Mike Amesbury, such a contest now looms in Runcorn and Helsby. The ex-Labour MP was sentenced on Monday to ten weeks in prison, triggering a recall petition. Already Nigel Farage's 'People's army' is up in Cheshire collecting signatures, following the party's second place finish here last July. So with a difficult race on their hands, who might Labour party managers turn to in their desperation? Perhaps Jon Ashworth, the former shadow cabinet mainstay cruelly turfed out in Leicester last year. Ashworth, who now works as Chief Executive of the Labour Together group, has been rumoured to be looking for a way to make a comeback into parliament.

It’s a day ending in a ‘y’ which can only mean one thing – noted geopolitics expert Gary Lineker inflicting his opinions on the Middle East on the rest of us. Gary’s latest dip into the Arab-Israeli conflict comes after the BBC was forced to pull its documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, from iPlayer while it performs a ‘due diligence’ check on the programme. This was prompted by the allegation that one of the programme’s child narrators was the son of a Hamas government minister. Since then, it has also been alleged that the programme mistranslated certain words used by its interviewees – changing the Arabic words for ‘Jew’ and ‘Jews’ to ‘Israel’ or ‘Israeli forces’.

To the Commons, where Prime Minister's Questions has this afternoon taken place. Sir Keir Starmer was asked a ranged of questions, from energy to aid to the economy. But while the Labour PM appeared to enjoy his to and fro with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, on the Chagos Islands he was a little more cagey… When Conservative MP Kieran Mullan quizzed Starmer on whether the deal to cede sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago would be funded from the Ministry of Defence's budget, the Prime Minister did not have a straight answer – despite the straightforwardness of Mullan's question.

Well, well, well. It turns out that an international judge who ruled against Britain on the Chagos Islands has also, er, called for the UK to pay over £18 trillion in slavery reparations. Patrick Robinson is a Jamaican judge who has previously served on the International Court of Justice – and was one of the judges who, in 2019, agreed the UK should hands over the archipelago 'as rapidly as possible'. How very curious… As reported by the Telegraph, Robinson is a big supporter of Britain paying reparations to African and Caribbean countries for slavery – and even helped write a recent United Nations report that proposed the UK should give away over £18 trillion as part of a £87 trillion payment from ex-slaveholding countries.

To Donald Trump. The US president has shared a rather interesting video on his Truth Social platform, depicting an AI-generated Palestine with the caption: 'Gaza 2025… What's next?'. The president has hinted before about how his nation could rebuild the country – and this generation appears to show just how he expects that project to turn out… A computerised version of the Middle Eastern country – which, according to Sky News was first shared in early February with no apparent connection to the White House – shows the area transformed into an exotic haven filled with beaches, skyscrapers, yachts and parties. From a 'Trump Gaza' tower to a huge statue of the US leader, no expense appears to have been spared in the rather bizarre video.

To the Commons, where Sir Keir Starmer has just made a rather big announcement on the issue of defence. The Prime Minister took to the Chamber today to announce to parliamentarians that Labour will raise Britain’s defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027 – with a commitment to hit 3 per cent by 2034 if his party wins a second term. Golly! It wasn’t all spending increases, however. The PM announced that the proposed 0.2 per cent rise for defence over the next two years would see a cut to foreign aid spending – from 0.5 per cent of GDP to 0.3 per cent. ‘It is not an announcement I am happy to make,’ he told politicians, ‘but security must come first’.

Back to Kim Leadbeater's assisted dying bill, which continues to undergo scrutiny as it makes its passage through parliament. This morning, the bill committee gathered to further discuss the legislation – and, in yet another baffling move, MPs voted by almost two to one against an amendment that would have required a patient to be consulted about palliative care options before undergoing assisted suicide. Good heavens… The amendment tabled by Labour MP Rachael Maskell requested that the wording of the bill was changed, to say that the patient should have 'met with a palliative care specialist for the purposes of being informed about the medical and care support options'.

Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron have some odd history. The US president and his French counterpart don't particularly see eye to eye and their strained relations have, over the years, been reflected in a series of rather intense handshakes – with one lasting for a full 29 seconds during a 2017 encounter. Crikey. Their meeting on Monday was similar. The duo met to discuss European plans for peace in Ukraine, including the possibility of deploying western troops in Kyiv, after joining a call with other G7 leaders on the matter. The meet followed the US president’s claim that Britain and France had ‘done nothing’ to end the war in Ukraine – and Trump further snubbed Macron by not greeting him at the White House upon his arrival yesterday.

Uh oh. The ex-leader of Reform UK in Wales has appeared in court after being accused of accepting Russian bribes. Nathan Gill, 51, is facing eight counts of bribery alongside one count of conspiracy to commit bribery – to make statements, it is alleged, that would benefit Russia in the European parliament. Good heavens… Initially a Ukip member, Gill became a Brexit party MEP between 2014 and 2020. The ex-Reform leader has been accused of receiving money from the Ukrainian politician – and his co-defendant in the case – Oleg Voloshyn in return for making specific statements on at least eight occasions.

When it rains for the Labour lot, it pours. Now Ed Miliband is in the firing line after a new global survey revealed a sharp fall in confidence about net zero among top energy bosses. The Energy Industries Council polling found just one in six energy chiefs believe the world can achieve net zero by 2050 – compared to nearly half of bosses who thought the same last year. Dear oh dear… Miliband's Tory counterpart Andrew Bowie was pulling no punches about the results, telling the Daily Mail: When nearly half of senior energy executives lose faith in it, the government's energy policy isn't working.

To the BBC, which has received a rather scathing letter from Tory leader Kemi Badenoch over a controversial documentary on Palestine. The Conservative party leader blasted the BBC 2 film released last week – titled 'Gaza: How to Survive A Warzone' – which was narrated by none other than, er, the son of a Hamas official and has questioned whether licence fee payers' cash has been paid to the terrorist organisation. Dear oh dear… The documentary sparked outrage last week after it emerged that the father of its child narrator was a Hamas deputy minister. Initially the broadcaster pointed blame at production company Hoyo Films for not disclosing the Hamas link, despite evidence that the corporation had regular involvement with Hoyo producers.