Steerpike

All is not well in the Labour party. Not only is Sir Keir still dealing with the freebie fiasco, Starmer also lost a longtime MP last week after she quit the party. Rosie Duffield left Labour with a bang, penning a scathing letter that blasted the 'sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice' existing among the lefty lot, telling the Prime Minister: 'I am so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party.' Shots fired... And now renowned writer JK Rowling has waded into the matter.

Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party’s conference was mired in his freebie fiasco scandal after revelations about clothing donations and trips abroad surfaced. But while the Labour lot had a tricky time fending the story off at their conference, they appear determined not to let the Tory meet pass without a similar hitch. Now it transpires that the Labour party chair has written to the Electoral Commission to demand an investigation over donations accepted by one Robert Jenrick. How curious… The Chancellor’s sister Ellie Reeves has blasted the Tory leadership frontrunner over a £75,000 sum he accepted from a company called The Spott Fitness.

Amid a wave of BBC cutbacks, the Corporation has made much of its new 'Verify' service. Bosses have trumpeted its fact-checkers – staff, supposedly, with ‘forensic investigative skills’ – as a solution to the slew of misinformation in the age of social media. So it was somewhat sub-optimal then that the BBC was forced to fact check itself on Thursday night in an episode of the flagship show Question Time. At one point in the evening, Zia Yusuf, the Reform party chairman, attacked the number of asylum seekers arriving into Britain after it emerged that the Foreign Office has spent more than £4 billion on support for refugees and asylum seekers.

Poor old Angela Rayner. It seems she is not too happy about reports that she is being 'frozen out' of decision-making in the new government, amid claims that she is the victim of a media 'briefing war.' Various reports have appeared suggesting that she has lost control of Labour’s employee rights’ package to the Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds and planning reform to the Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Use of the grace-and-favour residence of Dorneywood has also been given to Reeves, unlike in the days of John Prescott. Bad luck improving your croquet skills Ange. It's a far cry from, er, March when allies of Rayner were busy briefing about 'plans to establish a powerful new department at the core of UK government to shore up her position'.

All is not well in the Labour party at present. If Sir Keir Starmer didn't have enough on his plate, what with concerns about cronyism and the ongoing freebie scandal, one of his own backbenchers seems rather publicly out to get him too. Diane Abbott has been particularly active on social media lately, using her platform to slam Starmer's top team throughout their first party conference in power – and the Corbynista is pulling no punches. First going for the main man himself, Abbott posted a grainy photo of Sir Keir at the weekend as the frockgate saga ramped up, accusing the PM's top team of being 'in the pocket of millionaires'.

The general election may have been and gone but north of the border another fight is shaping up. The SNP has lost both members and support in the wake of Nicola Sturgeon's resignation, the police probe into party finances and the party's inability to find a new indyref strategy. Meanwhile, Scottish Labour under Anas Sarwar has seen its fortunes markedly improve – and even ex-SNP MPs have confessed to Mr S they see the group leader as the country's next First Minister. How very curious... Sarwar spent a lot of his time at Labour conference making moves around the 2026 Holyrood election. Speaking in Liverpool in conversation with Andrew Marr, the Scottish Labour leader tore into the current nationalist government.

The ravens really are leaving the tower. In recent months, Reform has been turbo-charging its professionalisation drive, working to set up branches across the country as part of their efforts to elect enough MPs to form the next government. There's been a big back office clear-out and tonight it sounds like there has been another casualty: this time one of the fledgling party's best-known faces. Gawain Towler – the last great amateur in British politics – has been fired from Reform after two decades spinning for its previous iterations Ukip and the Brexit party. Towler is a long-standing veteran of the Eurosceptic movement and is a familiar face to anyone who has attended one of Nigel Farage's colourful press conferences over the years.