Steerpike

After Wednesday's news that BBC veteran Huw Edwards pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children, the Beeb is facing a period of reckoning. And the institution is very much under the spotlight after it transpired last night that despite knowing Edwards had been arrested last November, it employed him on his top salary for five more months. Crikey. The broadcaster's star newsreader was paid a whopping £480,000 between March 2023 and April 2024, according to the BBC's annual accounts. Yet on Wednesday evening, the Beeb admitted it had been 'made aware in confidence' that the former News at Ten presenter had been 'arrested on suspicion of serious offences'.

Dear oh dear. The news that ex-BBC presenter Huw Edwards has pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children has come as a shock to a nation which spent years watching the veteran TV star fronting the public service broadcaster's biggest stories. And it will serve as a warning to those journalists who were rather quick to make sweeping judgements on Edwards' innocence. Mr S has been looking back at some past remarks made by a certain group of stars – and it's rather awkward for all involved... First was the ever-online Owen Jones. The Graun columnist slammed the idea that Edwards might have done anything wrong, tweeting furiously that Edwards was a 'vulnerable man', and that 'we know now there was no criminality'.

Ding ding ding! The Tory leadership race is heating up, with the final six candidates now declared. But with Kemi Badenoch currently the bookies’ favourite to win, the Guardian has tonight published a story claiming she was guilty of ‘bullying and traumatising’ behaviour when running the Department for Business and Trade. The paper cites sources who accuse her of being ‘toxic and intimidating’ in the role, thanks to her ‘mercurial’ moods. The Graun also claims that at least three officials found her behaviour so difficult that they felt they had to leave. One ‘insider’ is quoted as claiming Badenoch had people she would ‘single out’, alleging she was ‘passive-aggressive’ and subjected colleagues to ‘sustained bullying’.

Back to the case of ex-BBC presenter Huw Edwards, who has this afternoon been charged with making indecent images of children. Edwards was suspended by the Beeb in July 2023 after the Sun reported allegations that he had solicited explicit images from a young man. He subsequently resigned from the Corporation in April this year, citing medical reasons. Now Edwards faces three charges over alleged indecent activity, linked to shared WhatsApp images according to the police, dating between December 2020 and April 2022. It transpires that after being arrested by the Metropolitan police last November, Edwards was formally charged last month. And on Wednesday this week, the former presenter will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court.

The Tory leadership race is hotting up and there's lots of familiar faces featuring this time around. Kemi Badenoch, Priti Patel, Tom Tugendhat – it's like the 2022 contest never ended! But one candidate who sadly isn't running is Suella Braverman, the onetime standard-bearer of the Brexiteer right. She has penned a piece for Monday's Telegraph, declaring that she will not throw her hat in the ring – even though she claims to have had the backing to hit the necessary threshold before the 2.30 p.m deadline. 'Although I'm grateful to the 10 MPs who wanted to nominate me for the leadership, getting on to the ballot is not enough,' she writes.

As the third week of Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government comes to an end, there’s certainly been a lot of change in town. From the party's tone shift on private jets to the Culture Secretary’s volte face on the culture wars, the Labour party has proven it still has a penchant for U-turns. And in Westminster more specifically, with a parliamentary party of over 400 members, Starmer’s army is rather concerned with a change in MP discipline too. Steerpike has spent the last few weeks speaking to political newbies about how they’re getting on – and there have been more than a few grumblings… Whipped into shape Seven MPs have already had the Labour whip removed this week after supporting an SNP amendment to the King’s Speech over the two-child benefit cap.

Reform has managed to get 5 MPs elected, take 14 per cent of the vote share and outdo any other UK political party on campaign video views on Twitter – but it's not all looking rosy for Nigel Farage right now. Before Farage decided he was going to stand in the election, Reform UK selected one Tony Mack to contest the Clacton-on-Sea seat. But Mack was quickly ousted when Nige chose to run – and it turns out he wasn't all that happy about the decision. Mack has now handed Farage a staggering £8,500 bill which the former candidate claims is compensation he is due for his short-lived election campaign.