Steerpike

The Tory leadership battle is now underway with the traditional first act: to identify a frontrunner and start blowing poison darts. Kemi Badenoch is the frontrunner and famously combative. She's in her early 40s. So it must stand to reason that she’d have let off steam in a chatroom somewhere, surely? This is where it gets interesting. In Westminster, a link is being shared over WhatsApp between candidate teams, MPs and general Westminster watchers of 'Naijablog' a blog about Nigeria, where a below-the-line commentator by the name of 'Kemi' had plenty to say - and plenty bones to pick. The comments are direct, sometimes rude, often confrontational, making off-colour jokes and taking no prisoners.

These days when it rains for the Tories, it pours. Now it transpires that more voters under the age of 30 backed Nigel Farage’s Reform UK than the Conservatives this election – with experts convinced that recent years of economic instability is pushing younger voters away from the two largest parties. How curious… Over 35,000 voters were surveyed by YouGov – with the pollster finding that of those aged between 18 and 30 years old, 9.5 per cent backed the Farage-founded group with just 8 per cent turning to the Tories. While it’s more bad news for Rishi Sunak’s boys in blue, Reform can’t quite claim victory among Gen-Zers yet.

As Conservative MPs start to declare their candidacy for the Tory leadership race, north of the border conversations are heating up about who the next Scottish group leader will be. As Mr S wrote on Monday, so far the first official contender is justice spokesperson Russell Findlay – who announced his bid by penning a lengthy op-ed for the Scottish Daily Mail. But as other potential rivals consider their positions, now former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson has waded into the matter. As debate about the future of the party continues, Baroness Davidson of London Links has warned that splitting the Scottish group from the UK party would be 'electoral suicide'. The ex-leader told the Mail: I've never believed in breaking up the party.

James Cleverly, the first official Tory leadership contender, has today ruled out a merger with Reform if he becomes Tory leader in November. After announcing his candidacy in an op-ed for the Daily Telegraph, the shadow home secretary was quick to get across the airwaves today. Cleverly secured a prime slot on the Beeb’s Today programme, and it wasn’t long before the former cabinet minister was interrogated on the rise of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party. ‘What do you do about Reform as a party, not just Nigel Farage, but Reform? You’re quite split, aren’t you?’ Justin Webb quizzed the former home secretary. Cleverly was having none of it. ‘The Conservative Party doesn’t do mergers,’ he replied robustly: The simple truth is that we have got a series of principles.

She's back! It was less than three weeks ago that Liz Truss lost her seat after suffering the biggest ever swing from Tory to Labour in a general election. But in true Truss style, she's picked herself up and soldiered on, visiting the Republican National Convention in Wisconsin last week and doing the rounds with U.S broadcasters. In an interview with Fox which has now gone viral she was asked to comment on Kamala Harri's merits – or lack thereof. 'I think there have been some brilliant American women in politics but I don't think Kamala Harris is one of them,' Truss began, noting how failing to control immigration and inflation resulted in a major backlash against her own party. 'Kamala Harris is going to change none of that,' Truss said. 'She’s been there the last four years.

Labour won the election on a campaign of change and its politicians certainly have a knack for, um, changing their minds. Sir Keir has made some fascinating U-turns over the years, and it now appears that Lisa Nandy has a taken a leaf out of his book – rather publicly changing her tune on the culture wars. 'The era of culture wars is over,' Nandy proclaimed in her first speech as Culture Secretary earlier this month. 'For too long, for too many people, the story we tell ourselves about ourselves as a nation has not reflected them, their communities or their lives. This is how polarisation, division and isolation thrives.' Wise words – but has the Culture Secretary heeded them herself? Apparently not.

To the House of Commons, where today Reform’s Nigel Farage made his maiden speech after returning from Milwaukee's RNC. Attempting a number of times to gain access to the Commons, Farage was successful on his eighth shot this election – and this afternoon's speech shows he's wasting no time getting down to business. In his characteristically caustic fashion, Farage was quick to hit out at his parliamentary colleagues – taking special care to focus on Labour’s lefty lot. ‘This is very much a Remainers parliament,’ Farage proclaimed, before adding cynically: ‘I suspect in many cases it’s really a rejoiners parliament.’ Oo er. With prominent leavers from Jacob Rees-Mogg to Penny Mordaunt losing their seats at the election, Nige does have a point.

Back to the BBC, which these days is better at being in the news than making it. The six-figure salary list for 2023-24 has been published and with it come some quite interesting revelations. Top earner Gary Lineker received £1.35 million, while Radio 2 presenter Zoe Ball isn't too far behind on £950,000. Big names including Greg James, Stephen Nolan and Fiona Bruce saw their salaries increase while politicos Laura Kuenssberg and Nick Robinson also made the list. But, most interestingly, Mr S notices that Huw Edwards saw his salary rise by a colossal £40,000 last year – despite not having worked for most of the last 12 months.

After President Biden announced he would be standing down on Sunday evening, it's been all go in the White House. But while speculation about the next Democrat nominee continues, there is a separate side plot that Mr S is rather interested in – involving Biden’s son. Robert Hunter Biden has spent a fair amount of time in the limelight over the years, for scandals both personal – crack cocaine use, infidelity and a two-year relationship with his late brother's wife – and professional, with his dealings in China and Ukraine. Last month, the eldest son of the US president was found guilty of lying about his drug use when purchasing a handgun and was convicted of all the charges against him – which could result in a jail sentence of up to 25 years.