Johnny mercer

Tory wives: where would we be without them? Among the casualties of today’s reshuffle was Johnny Mercer, the veterans’ minister who duly published a farewell letter on Commons headed paper, defending his record in post. The former soldier wrote how ‘disappointed’ he was ‘to leave a role I established’ adding, acidly, that ‘any Prime Minister is entitled to reward her supporters.’ But now his wife Felicity has revealed the truth behind the lengthy statement, with a pithy tweet featuring a blonde Beaker of the Muppets. Felicity Cornelius-Mercer declared on Twitter this evening that Mercer, the ‘best person I know’ had been ‘sacked by an imbecile.’ According to her, Truss was

It was Valentine’s day yesterday in Westminster and while Steerpike did a round-up of MPs’ messages to their partners, there was one romantic dispatch he appears to have missed. Step forward Felicity Cornelius-Mercer, better known as the other half of Johnny, the veterans-obsessed Tory MP for Plymouth Moor View.  Felicity’s Twitter game has been raising eyebrows recently after she posted a picture of her inebriated, snoring husband last week captioned: ‘the Prime Minister rang tonight directly after an afternoon of FA Cup football and England rugby..and @JohnnyMercerUK was so pissed he can’t remember what was said.’ Her defence-mad hubbie replied that ‘wives have a mind and a life of their own’ claiming

After seven and a half hours, the House of Commons debate on Afghanistan has finally concluded. Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab will not have fond memories of the day. Keir Starmer, in front of a packed House of Commons for the first time in his leadership, delivered a respectable performance, replete with jabs at the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary. But it will be the criticisms from Tory MPs that will have alarm bells ringing in No. 10 tonight, after a series of bruising condemnations delivered by one senior backbencher after another. Below Steerpike brings you the top five flashpoints of blue on blue attacks from today’s debate in the House of

No Prime Minister likes a minister allowing public speculation about whether they are going to resign or not. So when reports emerged this morning about Johnny Mercer planning to resign over Northern Ireland veterans not being covered by the Overseas Operations Bill, it was inevitable that Downing Street would sack him if he did not commit to staying. Mercer was duly dismissed tonight following a tempestuous meeting with the chief whip  Mercer’s letter to the Prime Minister doesn’t pull its punches. He accuses the government of lacking ‘moral strength or courage’ in failing to resolve this issue. His letter says that this is leading to veterans ‘being sectioned, drinking themselves to