Steerpike

Another day, another BBC blunder. This time the broadcaster admits that it was wrong to describe Richard Tice’s Reform UK party as ‘far-right’ in a recent news report: In an article about the Liberal Democrats’ spring conference we wrongly described the political party Reform UK as far-right when referring to polling. This sentence was subsequently removed from the article as it fell short of our usual editorial standards.  The original article, which relays Sir Ed Davey's plea to the Lib Dems to 'make this a once-in-a-generation election', has also been amended. The BBC attributes the error as being down to ‘news agency copy’, adding in its corrections page that ‘we take full responsibility and apologise for the error’.

The Rwanda bill was back in the Commons on Monday night as the ping pong between the two chambers continues. The evening became a tad rowdier than expected, however, after one MP decided to exercise some rather vulgar language during the session…  One politician shocked his colleagues after he was heard shouting 'sh***' during the debate. Deputy Speaker Sir Roger Gale was having none of it, fuming: ‘I'm informed that a Member swore at one of the doorkeepers this evening who on my instructions locked the doors’ and added that once the individual is identified, the ‘consequences will be very severe’. Oo er. Gale didn’t have to investigate for too long, however, before an embarrassed Labour MP handed himself in.

The Tory donor racism row has entered its second week, much to the dismay of politicians on all sides of the chamber. Both the Conservatives and Labour have had to face uncomfortable questions on Frank Hester's remarks about Diane Abbott in the last week. After the Tories were criticised for taking too long to condemn the comments as 'racist', transport secretary Mark Harper defended his party on Sunday, telling the BBC that the Prime Minister had wanted to check the veracity of the remarks first. And the Labour party was blasted by Abbott herself last week, writing in an op-ed about her experience of 'abusive' officials in her former party who 'did not actually call for me to be shot but the tenor was not dissimilar to what Hester said'.

Another day, another SNP spat. Humza Yousaf spent the weekend trying to drum up support amongst his core voters for his nationalist party, which is predicted to lose almost half of its Westminster seats to Labour in the general election. The main problem with the First Minister’s message, however, was that it seemed to focus on the wrong target. ‘In this election, we have the chance to finally make Scotland Tory-free, for the first time in almost a quarter of a century,’ Yousaf roared at his audience. ‘Most seats across Scotland are a straight fight between the SNP and the Tories. Let the message from our party be heard loud and clear by every Tory MP in Scotland. Your time is up and the SNP is coming for you.’ Scary stuff.

Good heavens. Just when you think events north of the border can’t get any more ridiculous, they do. Now it has emerged that the director of an, er, hardcore porn project managed to secure £85,000 from government-backed Creative Scotland in January. The production, directed by Leonie Rae Gasson and titled ‘Rein’, was set to involve ‘pornographic processes’ to film in the Highlands, while research for the project included a nine-minute sexually explicit film that aims to take viewers on a ‘magical, erotic journey through a distinctly Scottish landscape’. What's more, recruitment ads for Rein, which offered a daily fee of £270 for 'hardcore' acts, were advertised on the websites of publicly-funded arts groups.

Never able to keep herself from the spotlight for long, Meghan is back on Instagram. After her Archetypes podcast series failed and her previous blog The Tig bombed, the Queen of Privacy is embarking on a new venture. Now, the Duchess of Sussex is launching a lifestyle brand which she plans to use to resurrect her image by selling cookbooks, tableware and, er, marmalade. Eagle-eyed social media users were quick to spot a brand new Instagram account called ‘American Riviera Orchard’ this week, the biography reading: ‘By Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex.’ The account name is thought to be inspired by the location of Meghan and Harry’s luxury dwelling in Montecito.

The Frank Hester saga continues after the Tory donor’s ‘rude’ remarks about Diane Abbott came to light on Monday. A Guardian investigation revealed that the West Yorkshire businessman had told colleagues in 2019 that looking at Abbott makes ‘you just want to hate all black women because she’s there’ and that ‘she should be shot’. Now Kemi Badenoch has spoken out on the issue. The business secretary, who is also minister for women and equalities, blasted Hester’s ‘appalling’ and ‘racist’ remarks on Tuesday afternoon — but added that there must be ‘space for forgiveness’. Writing on Twitter this afternoon, she said: Hester’s 2019 comments, as reported, were racist. I welcome his apology. Abbott and I disagree on a lot.

It's a day that ends in 'y' which means the leader of the SNP is once again harping on about independence. Today Humza Yousaf addressed a crowd at the the London School of Economics about the economic woes of Brexit and how, surprise surprise, 'achieving independence' is the only solution for the people of Scotland. Yousaf started jovially, pointing out that both his host Emma McCoy and interviewer Iain Begg had Caledonian ties. 'It just reminds me of that famous saying that there are two types of people in the world: Scots and those who want to be Scottish. There is a third, of course,' he quipped, 'those who lack any ambition whatsoever, but we shall look over those individuals.' A rather ironic dig from a leader who has himself achieved, er, not a great deal...