Steerpike

The Queen of Privacy is doing it again. After a brief hiatus from the spotlight, the Duchess of Sussex has appointed a PR guru to help resurrect her UK image. Mr S isn’t all that surprised the Sussexes are setting their sights back on Britain — they were, after all, dubbed ‘Hollywood’s biggest losers’ at the end of last year. Meghan has employed an as yet unnamed professional public relations exec to help overcome her ‘popularity problem’ in the UK. The job role will also include time working on the Sussex’s not-for-profit Archewell Foundation. Eagle-eyed readers might remember this is the company that produced Meghan’s Archetypes podcast series which ran for a whole, er, 12 episodes, after being unceremoniously canned less than a year after Spotify funnelled £15.

In a few hours, Joe Biden will deliver what could be his final State of the Union address as President. And the man who hopes to make that happen in November was quick to get his side of the story in first, releasing a 'prebuttal' before Biden even appeared in the Senate. Donald Trump blasted the man he calls 'crooked Joe' in a three-minute clip, slamming Biden’s immigration and economic policies and casting the upcoming speech as a 'sad excuse.' He told supporters: Joe Biden is on the run from his record and lying like crazy to try to escape accountability for the horrific devastation he and his party have created – all the while they continue the very policies that are causing this horror show to go.

Jeremy Hunt failed to raise many laughs with his Budget gags – but his quips went down particularly badly with Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner. After picking on Keir Starmer with a rather crude jibe at his weight, Hunt then turned the guns on Rayner, who has recently been reported to the taxman over allegations she may have failed to pay thousands when selling her old home, a former council house. ‘I have also been looking at the stamp duty relief for people who purchase more than one dwelling in a single transaction, known as Multiple Dwellings Relief,’ adding: ‘I see the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party paying close attention given her multiple dwellings!’ Cue the laughter — and the wrath of Rayner, whom almost jumped out of her seat.

Another day, another government figure in a spot of bother. Michelle Donelan, Science and Technology Secretary, has today had to retract false accusations she made about an academic and agreed to pay the damages and costs. It’s a rather embarrassing case of the science minister unable to get her facts right: sub-optimal to say the least. Last October, Donelan accused Professor Kate Sang, an academic working at Heriot Watt University, of expressing sympathy for Hamas in the aftermath of the 7 October attack. She also accused another academic, Dr Kamna Patel, of sharing extremist material. Both woman, Donelan claimed, had breached the Seven Principles of Public Life and should be removed from their positions.

He’s back. George Galloway, victor of Friday’s Rochdale by-election, has this afternoon been sworn in as MP in the House of Commons for his fourth different constituency. After a morning swanning around the estate, ‘Gorgeous George’, who last sat in 2015, arrived to a rather empty chamber, flanked by Alba MP Neale Hanvey and Father of the House Sir Peter Bottomley. The unwilling escorts were chosen after David Davies and Jeremy Corbyn both turned down the chance to accompany Galloway into the House for his triumphant return. Talk about awkward… After taking the oath – on a Holy Bible – parliament’s newest MP set about doing what he does best: holding an emergency press conference outside parliament to talk about, er, himself.