Steerpike

Poor old Robert Jenrick. He has spent eleven gruelling months touring associations, existing on a diet of Ozempic and rubber-chicken, only to lose to Kemi Badenoch by a double-digit margin on Saturday. Badenoch may yet offer Jenrick a role in her shadow cabinet. But if she doesn't – or if Jenrick politely declines any such offer – the question then becomes what will he do next? Prior to entering politics, one career that Jenrick did try his hand at was journalism. Mr S has done some digging and it turns out that the Newark MP actually has something of a flair for words. A history student of St John's College, Cambridge, Jenrick served as News Editor for the famous student newspaper Varsity. Past contributors include the likes of Charles III, Stephen Hawking and, er, Andy Burnham.

So Kemi Badenoch is the new leader of the opposition. How best should Labour respond? One person who has shown the perfect example of what not to do is Dawn Butler, the gaffe machine otherwise known as the Honourable Member for Brent East. Shortly before the result was announced she shared a post on Twitter/X accusing Kemi Badenoch of representing ‘white supremacy in blackface’ and suggesting it amounted to a ‘victory for racism.’ Work that one out. The post has subsequently been removed from Butler’s profile. So much for a new Dawn eh? Next up, it was the turn of Zarah Sultana - Coventry’s answer to Citizen Smith. The teenage Trotskyite declared that ‘her election marks a shift to the far-right.

It’s Rishi Sunak’s final week as Tory leader, but should he be asked to carry on? On Wednesday he charmed the Commons at PMQs before stealing Rachel Reeves’s thunder with a virtuoso Budget speech. And now, in the final poll of his leadership, it transpires that the Conservatives have, at long last, overtaken Labour in the polls. Autumn election anyone? The BMG research poll, which was conducted on Wednesday and Thursday in the immediate aftermath of the Budget, found the Tories ahead in the polls for the first time since the partygate scandal began in December 2021. Asked how they would vote if a fresh general election were held now, 29 per cent of respondents said they would back the Conservatives with 28 per cent opting for Labour.

First, it was the Chagos Islands. Then it was David Lammy's visit. Now many in Westminster are asking: when it comes to China, where does this government draw the line? In recent weeks it has been reported that Labour is both dropping plans to classify Beijing's treatment of Uyghur Muslims as a 'genocide' and is pushing to reopen trade talks via the Jetco forum. So much for getting tough on Xi eh? Mr S hears word though that already a backlash is under way. The seven current and former parliamentarians who were sanctioned by China in March 2021 have fired off an angry reprimand to Lammy, in the wake of his visit to Beijing.

Rachel Reeves's fiscal statement has been and gone but the fallout from today's Budget is still being assessed. One rather interesting element of the Chancellors' speech this afternoon concerns the Labour government's claim that the Conservatives left a £22bn blackhole in the economy after the party's 14 years in government. Despite shadow chancellor Jeremy Hunt and outgoing Tory leader Rishi Sunak vehemently denying this is accurate, Reeves insisted to the House today that she will publish a 'line by line' analysis of her claim. On the topic of publications, the OBR has been no great ally to Starmer's army. It released a review of its own today on the contents of Reeves's budget – and reached some rather damning conclusions.