Steerpike

As Reform UK's support surges, the Conservatives are coming under scrutiny for failing to deal with immigration to the UK during their time in power. Former Home Secretary Priti Patel found herself in the firing line after she was grilled on the Sun’s Never Mind the Ballots today. Quizzed by the newspaper’s political editor Harry Cole, Patel was first shown a graph of Britain’s immigration levels before being told: ‘You ended free movement for Europeans and you threw the borders open for the rest of the world!’ Ouch. An indignant Patel insisted ‘legal migration’ was behind the spike, and claimed ‘the brightest and the best’ had been let into Britain under the Tories. Er, right. ‘I’m not fine with [the graph],’ the ex-Home Secretary eventually admitted.

Donald Trump is back in the White House and the UK is playing catch-up once again. Whether it's Mandelson grovelling for his job or Starmer waiting almost a week for a phone call, it risks a re-run of the President's first term when opportunities were missed. And now, in a potential indicator that those in Whitehall were caught on the hop, the Department of Business and Trade have this week put a new job advert. The post in question? 'Head of Tariff Strategy'. Yep, that's right, for the whopping salary of just £55,000, you too could be bartering with Donald Trump's tariff-loving aides. According to the 2,177-word advert, 'you will have the opportunity to shape the UK’s international trade agenda for years to come' and establish 'the UK as a leader at the World Trade Organisation.

They say that sunlight is the best of disinfectants. But MPs haven't always be so keen on having their voting records online. Some take issue with how their votes are portrayed; others suggest disproportionate weight is given to divisions they do attend. Still, Mr S is always keen to see which Honourable Members are turning up – and which ones look to be checking out. So Steerpike has been taking a look at how many times our elected representatives have voted since the last election in July 2024. In the six months since, there have been 91 divisions. When Sinn Féin and the deputy speakers are excluded, it turns out that the two men who came top are... the ones who headed the two major parties at the last election.

There are just two days to go until Rachel Reeves' big growth speech. The Chancellor is expected to turn her fire on Nimbys – Not In My Back Yard residents – and give Heathrow's third runway the long-awaited green light. Naturally, a bigger airport is not something Reeves herself would support near her own constituency: in 2020 she opposed Leeds Bradford's £150 million expansion on the grounds it would 'significantly increase air and noise pollution'. Awkward. Still, at least Reeves can claim to having always been a long-time supporter of increased capacity at Heathrow. That is something which cannot be said of many of her colleagues, dozens of whom voted against the third runway the last time it was put to a vote in 2018.

To govern is to choose. So what have Labour's ministers chosen to hung on their walls? Raiding the Government Art Collection for the pick of the portraits is one of the perks of being a minister, along with a red box, car and driver. Mr S has done some digging and via a Freedom of Information request is delighted to tell his readers that some Starmtroopers have opted for some ironic choices in their office furnishings. First up, it's Rachel Reeves, that well-known friend of the farmers. The Chancellor, who whacked up inheritance tax on struggling rural landowners in her first Budget, has a watercolour on her walls in the Treasury. It depicts farm labourers tilling the land and is titled 'Sowing Potatoes on a Windy Day'. Not if Rachel's beancounters have anything to do with it!

As the new Labour government continues to struggle with voters, support for Reform UK only seems to be growing. New survey results released today by pollsters Find Out Now sees Nigel Farage's party top the charts – beating both its Tory and Labour rivals. Talk about moving into pole position, eh? The new data – taken from a sample of 2,380 adults quizzed on Wednesday – shows 26 per cent of Brits back Reform UK, an increase of one percentage point since the 15 January. Coming second to the Farage-founded group is the Conservative party, with Kemi Badenoch's boys in blue on 23 per cent. Meanwhile, in yet another set of poor poll results, Labour trails in third place on 22 per cent.

This afternoon, the Southport killer Axel Rudakubana has been sentenced to a minimum of 52 years in jail – for the murder of three young girls and the attempted murder of ten other people at a dance class last summer. The 18-year-old murderer also admitted to producing ricin and being in possession of terrorist material and a knife. The harrowing details of the case were heard in court earlier today – from the events of the attack to Rudakubana's lack of remorse afterwards, reminding the country of an attack that shocked the nation.