Steerpike

It's the first Prime Minister's Questions since conference season and Labour's recent woes have given the leader of the opposition a rather lot of material. An energetic Rishi Sunak was fast to mock Sir Keir Starmer over tensions in his top team – in a dig at Starmer's swapping out of chief of staff Sue Gray for Labour election guru Morgan McSweeney at the weekend. 'Mr Speaker,' Sunak began, 'tomorrow the government will publish their anticipated changes to employment law. Given the weekend's events, when did the Prime Minister first become a convert to "fire and rehire"?' Ouch. It's a touchy subject for the PM, not least because Gray's allies have rather ferociously turned on him since the move.

Well, well well. The Labour lot are under the spotlight once again. It transpires, after the Sun newspaper's splash this morning, that Home Secretary Yvette Cooper personally intervened to ensure that Taylor Swift received a police convoy to her Wembley shows. Priorities, priorities... Cooper has come under fire after reporting revealed that London's Metropolitan police were pressed by politicians over Swift's security measures. Three of the US singer-songwriter's Vienna shows were cancelled this year after a suicide bomb attempt was foiled by forces – and it has been claimed that the American pop icon's mother and manager was threatening to cut the singer's London shows unless top level police support was provided.

Today's the day that the nation finds out who the final two Conservative leadership candidates will be – after a vote by MPs this afternoon. On Tuesday, former security minister Tom Tugendhat was knocked out after receiving the backing of just 20 MPs, coming fourth place to Kemi Badenoch on 30 votes, Robert Jenrick on 31 and James Cleverly on a whopping 39. And finally the question on everyone's lips has been answered: who does Nigel Farage reckon will be eliminated today? Speaking on GB News, the Reform UK leader set out his predictions for today's highly-anticipated result – and couldn't resist blasting the Tory 'establishment' in the process. 'Who makes the last two?' he asked: Well, I tell you: Cleverly, clearly makes the last two.

All has not been well in the Scottish government for some time – and the latest revelation that former first minister Humza Yousaf was slamming civil servant press officers in WhatsApp chats is hardly likely to repair relations. It transpires that hapless Humza and one-time national clinical director Jason Leitch turned on their own officials in Covid message exchanges, uncovered by the Scottish Sun via Freedom of Information request. Oh dear. In a rather ironic twist, it has emerged that Yousaf complained he was 'not hugely impressed' by the efforts of the comms officials working in the health department, before promising to, er, 'sort it out'. Perhaps he should've taken a harder look at his own governing style, eh?

When it rains for Sir Keir Starmer, it pours. Polling by More in Common via Politico has revealed that Labour's lead has been dramatically slashed to just one point ahead of the Tories, only three months after Labour's landslide win. The survey, which polled 2,023 Brits, put support for Starmer's army on 29 per cent – while Rishi Sunak's boys in blue are close on their heels at 28 per cent. Compared to the last poll carried out by the firm a fortnight ago, the Conservatives have gained two points, while Labour has lost one. Meanwhile, Nigel Farage's Reform party is in third place, on 19 per cent – just ten points behind the Labour. Sir Ed Davey's Lib Dems sit on 11 per cent, with the eco-activist Greens on 7 per cent and the Scottish Nats on just 2 per cent.

Sue Gray may have moved on, but Sir Keir Starmer's freebie headache isn't going anywhere. Now former prime minister Boris Johnson has lashed out at the Labour PM over his decision to accept gifts clothing, hospitality and glasses – adding that Starmer must be 'worth a bob or two' due to his prestigious legal career. Indeed... It transpired over the last few weeks that Sir Keir has claimed £107,000 in donations since December 2019, including £4,000 of, er, Taylor Swift tickets. It was hardly a Cruel Summer for Starmer, eh? The Prime Minister eventually paid back over £6,000 worth of hospitality – but even that has not managed to squash the story, and Johnson's latest intervention won't help matters much.