Steerpike

Another one bites the dust. Now Sue Gray has resigned from her top job as Sir Keir Starmer's chief of staff, taking on an 'advisory' position while Labour campaign guru Morgan McSweeney moves into her role. The move follows weeks of bad briefings about Gray – from claims the Starmer staffer had 'subverted' Cabinet over Casement Park, refused to get paid less than the PM and was not seeing eye to eye with McSweeney himself. The drama never quite seemed to end. So much for serious government, eh? Certainly those commentators who gloated about Sir Keir's Labour welcoming in a new age of mature politics must be feeling red-faced now. Mr S thought it would be useful to take a look at who exactly might want to swallow their words...

Back to the Tory leadership contest which is gathering pace post-conference season. In a matter of days, MPs will cast their votes to leave just two contenders in the race, before the membership gets its say. But there is consternation about the final two among the Holyrood group – which only appointed a new leader itself last week – after growing frustration about some of the frontrunners having snubbed Scotland. How very interesting. Half of the Scottish Tory crowd – which only appointed a new leader itself last week – have publicly thrown their weight behind Tom Tugendhat, who has the backing of 16 of the party's 31 MSPs.

There was national outrage this morning at the news that Sir Keir's Labour has decided to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius – but perhaps Brits shouldn't be so shocked by Starmer's move. It transpires that the Prime Minister is friends with Philippe Sands KC, who also happens to be Mauritius' chief legal adviser – and a longtime campaigner for the country to control the land. How very curious... As revealed by Guido Fawkes, Sands has slaved away in international courts to successfully convince the lefty lot to give away the strategically important cluster of islands in the Indian Ocean.

Dear oh dear. It now transpires that Lord Alli is under investigation by the Lords Commissioner – with the millionaire businessman being looked into over 'alleged non-registration of interests' with concerns the Labour donor may have breached the Lords code of conduct. How curious... The donor – who funded workwear for the Prime Minister and his wife, paid for expensive glasses for Sir Keir Starmer and even provided luxury accommodation worth over £20,000 to the Labour leader – is being investigated over 'alleged non-registration of interests leading to potential breaches of paragraphs 14(a) and 17 of the thirteenth edition of the Code of Conduct for Members of the House of Lords'.

Uh oh. There’s trouble in Tory paradise after leadership candidate Robert Jenrick made some rather questionable remarks about the armed forces. At the Conservative party conference in Birmingham, the wannabe leader claimed that: ‘Special forces are killing rather than capturing terrorists’ because of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Tory frontrunner added that ‘those who do not understand military operations or the law of armed conflict should not be commenting on it’. Good heavens… And, as might be expected, Jenrick’s rival Tom Tugendhat — a former army officer — has taken umbrage at his competitors comments.