Steerpike

Following last night’s mammoth parliamentary ping pong session, a funny thing happened early this morning. As various members of HM Press Gallery began to stir themselves today, the social media feeds of various Labour candidates began to be bombarded with graphic after graphic of the English flag, emblazoned with a message wishing one and all a happy St George’s day. Clearly, the free thinking men and women of the Starmer army had all got the message from on high. And then the great Keirleader himself published a rather snazzy video, waxing lyrical — in true Shakespearean style — about what England means to him. Eat your heart out Prince Hal. But — and Mr S hates to be a cynic about such things — how genuine is all this flag-waving?

It's hard these days being a teller of truths. So many of the leading lights in British broadcasting have found in recent years that they're unable to do so in the less-than-lucrative halls of the BBC. Among those who have joined the exodus from the Corporation in recent years was Jon Sopel, who left in early 2022 to take up a role at Global with Emily Maitlis and Lewis Goodall. There the trio fearlessly dissect issues on which they all agree, on the wildly successful News Agents podcast. Yet in his haste to stick it to Sunak on the Rwanda Bill, it seems that Sopel has blundered quite spectacularly.

Has Nicola Sturgeon discovered a sudden enthusiasm for free speech? The former SNP leader has today reviewed Salman Rushdie’s latest book Knife for the New Statesman. Steerpike has read it so you don’t have to. Cliche abounds: ‘Rushdie pours himself, heart and soul, onto the page.’ The former FM also writes that: It is clear that [Rushdie] sees the response by some to the fatwa not just as a betrayal of himself, but also of the principle of free speech, which he defends with every word he writes. Rushdie argues that the abandonment by progressive forces of the right of individual free speech in favour of the protection of the sensibilities of vulnerable groups has allowed its weaponisation by the far right – it has become ‘a kind of freedom for bigotry’.

Might this be the worst week of 2024 for the Nats so far? Hapless Humza Yousaf demonstrated extraordinary indecision over the Cass review, Patrick Harvie’s barmy army helped ditch a Scottish government green pledge and, to top it all off, Nicola Sturgeon’s husband has been charged with embezzlement. You couldn’t make it up. The long-running police probe into the SNP’s finances reared its head again yesterday, when the party’s former chief executive was rearrested and charged. And, not long after the announcement went out, it emerged that Sturgeon’s husband had hung up his yellow coat and resigned his membership of the Scottish National party. An eventful few hours, to say the least. So what now for the SNP?

Peter Murrell, former chief executive of the SNP, has tonight been charged with embezzling money from his party. Murrell, the husband of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, was taken into police custody earlier today for a second time in connection with Operation Branchform, the probe into SNP funds. Murrell was arrested at 9 a.m. today, just over a year after he was first held on 5 April 2023. On that day, the Sturgeon-Murrell household in Glasgow was searched by officers and the SNP’s HQ in Edinburgh was raided. Both Sturgeon and the party's former treasurer Colin Beattie were arrested last year in connection with the probe, but were subsequently released pending further investigation.

The curious case of Angela Rayner’s tax affairs continues to drag on and Rishi Sunak isn't prepared to let Sir Keir Starmer forget about it. In a new development yesterday, the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police (GMP) Steve Watson revealed that ‘there are a number of assertions knocking about’ while another police source told the Times that ‘it’s not a single issue’ that the police are concerned with. Rayner has repeatedly denied she has done anything wrong and has been supported by Starmer (although he hasn't yet read the legal advice she received on the matter) but that didn’t stop the Prime Minister taunting the Labour leader.

After the longest promotional tour in history, Liz Truss finally held her belated book launch party. Less than an hour after voting against her successor's smoking ban, Truss welcomed the good and the great of Tory politics to mark the advent of her new tome Ten Days to Save the West. In a wide-ranging speech, the onetime premier turned on her (many) foes and lamented the downsides of life in Downing Street, including the infamous flea infestation, ‘not to mention all the other creatures that were hanging around in No. 10’. Ouch.  Running through her political enemies, Truss made a passionate case for people to buy her book. ‘I do have children to feed,’ she reminded the crowd. ‘I have to pay for new trainers – because they used to have those Adidas ones.