Katy Balls

The fallout from Frank Field's decision to resign the Labour whip over the leadership's handling of anti-Semitism allegations continued today. Field wants to stay on as a Labour party member but act as an independent in Parliament. The Labour leadership doesn't look kindly on this arrangement and has given him two weeks to withdraw his resignation – or face expulsion. Field has no plans to play ball. However, the issue that has the Corbynistas most excited is the prospect of a by-election. Field is under no obligation to go to the polls but on a blitz of the broadcast studios this morning, he said he is considering it.

Frank Field has become the first Labour MP to quit the party over anti-Semitism. He resigned the whip – blaming a 'culture of intolerance, nastiness and intimidation' in local parties. In a letter to the Chief Whip, Field said the leadership was 'becoming a force for anti-Semitism in British politics': 'Britain fought the second world war to banish these views from our politics, but that superhuman effort and success is now under huge and sustained internal attack. The leadership is doing nothing substantive to address this erosion of our core values. It saddens me that we are increasingly seen as a racist party.' Although he cites anti-Semitism as the trigger, Field was facing deselection threats from his local party over his Brexit stance.

The recurring story of the summer recess – aside from allegations of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia within the main two parties – has been reports of an influx of Ukip-esque members to the Tories. Today tensions reached boiling point. Following reports that pro-EU Tory MPs are seeing sharp rises in applications to join their local parties amid fears of deselection attempts, Anna Soubry called on Tory chairman Brandon Lewis to suspend a membership drive. He is yet to do so – but a leaked memo to Guido shows CCHQ officials have been offering advice to local Tory organisers on the best methods for refusing membership requests. The whole incident is curious for a number of reasons.

Until 5pm this evening, the main news from Theresa May's first trip to Africa as Prime Minister was that she isn't much good at dancing – after she attempted to join in on a dance with school children in Cape Town. However, the Maybot has since managed to set the news agenda alight by telling hacks that when it comes to her premiership she is 'in this for the long term'. Asked by the accompanying press pack, whether it was still her intention to lead her feuding party into the next election, May said she was in it for the 'long term' – adding that her focus right now is on delivering 'what the British people want'.

After a weekend of politicians feuding over the merits of a second referendum, Barry Gardiner, Andy Burnham and Conor Burns have become the latest politicians to criticise the People's Vote campaign to do just this. Meanwhile the BBC reports of a leaked memo which shows that the group has its eye on changing Labour policy – encouraging MPs and activists to submit a motion at Labour conference next month. As I reveal in this week's Spectator, the People's Vote campaign – which argues the public should have a say on the final deal – has a three-point Parliamentary strategy when it comes to bringing about a second referendum.

Every Wednesday morning in the House of Commons, about a dozen people can be seen making their way along the committee-room corridor to attend a ‘grassroots co-ordination committee meeting’. Before they get down to business, the group, a mix of MPs and campaigners, are treated to a monologue from their meeting chair, Labour’s Chuka Umunna. This speech varies but the agenda is the same: how to bring about a second referendum and stop Brexit. The ‘Stop Brexit’ campaign has taken many forms since the referendum result two years ago. There have been legal challenges, a surge of anti-Brexit campaign groups and plans for a new party — not to mention the one-man nationwide tour from Lord Adonis. He didn’t say that much on Europe before the referendum.

The Conservatives were given a reality check today in the form of new Electoral Commission data on the financial health of political parties in 2017. Under Jeremy Corbyn, Labour managed to break previous records and raise just under £56m in a single year – beating the Conservatives by nearly £10m. Adding insult to injury, the Tories received more money from the dead (in the form of bequests) than from the (living) Tory grassroots, with income from membership fees nearly halved. Where Labour received £16.2m in membership fees last year, the Tories managed a paltry £835,000. This touches on a wider issue for the Conservative party: its relationship with the grassroots.

Michel Barnier’s press conference had good news and bad news for the UK government. On the bright side, the EU’s chief negotiator promised to stay put and hold continuous – expected to be weekly – negotiations with Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab to try and bridge the differences between the two sides. However, he also promised not to budge when it comes to his negotiating position. Responding to accusations that the EU has proved inflexible, Barnier said: ‘We haven't changed our principles over two years — but why would we? Why would we change the principles on which the EU is based? The UK is leaving the EU, not the other way around.

These days Theresa May has less time to spend distancing herself from her predecessor. With blue-on-blue warfare rife and her premiership at a continual rocky patch, the Prime Minister's priorities tend to be getting through the day/week rather than killing David Cameron's pet projects. However, this week's social housing green paper serves as a reminder of the difference in their approaches. After leaving the coalition government, Nick Clegg recalled a senior Conservative minister telling him: 'I don't understand why you keep going on about the need for more social housing – it just creates Labour voters.' This dismissive attitude to social housing could be found in the policies the Cameron government adopted.

Will the latest anti-Semitism row damage Jeremy Corbyn? The row over the Munich memorial rumbles on for another day following the Labour leader's refusal to apologise for attending a wreath-laying ceremony for members of the terrorist organisation behind the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre. Although there are photos of Corbyn holding a wreath near those gravestones – and he previously said that he laid a wreath at the ceremony – he says there were multiple wreaths and multiple people moving wreaths. His wreath was for the victims of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation base in 1985. Not helping matters is the fact that Corbyn appears to have changed his story a number of times. However, Corbyn's main supporters have been keen to show that they are standing by their man.

Does Jeremy Corbyn harbour sinister views – or is he the unluckiest man in the world? That's the question being asked today after the Labour leader gave an interview to Sky News after allegations he attended a wreath-laying ceremony in Tunisia in 2014 for members of the terrorist group behind the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre. The official Labour line had been that Corbyn was paying his respects to the victims of a 1985 Israeli airstrike on Palestinian Liberation Organisation offices in Tunis. However, today he appeared to change tack. The Labour leader admitted he was present when a wreath was laid but added that he did not ‘think’ he was ‘involved’ in the actual wreath-laying.

It's day four of the Boris and the burka row over the former foreign secretary's decision to compare women wearing full face veils to a 'letterboxes' in a Telegraph column. And it doesn't look as though things will die down any time soon. The Conservatives are planning to launch a party probe into Johnson over his comments. Spearheaded by party chairman Brandon Lewis, complaints against the Tory MP will be referred to an internal disciplinary panel. A Conservative Party spokesman said: 'The code of conduct process is strictly confidential'. To say this will go down badly with Johnson's supporters is an understatement. Given that the whole point of Johnson's article was a liberal one in line with government policy – i.e.

Theresa May visited Scotland on Tuesday to hold Brexit talks with Nicola Sturgeon. Not that you would know this from reading today's papers as they are all about Boris Johnson. The Boris and the burka row rumbles on for a third day – after the former foreign secretary refused to apologise for his comments on Monday comparing muslim women dressed in the full veil to 'letterboxes'. Although Johnson not apologising is in some ways unsurprising, what's driving the news is the number of his former Cabinet colleagues who have called on him to do so.

Labour's anti-Semitism row and Theresa May's no deal Brexit woes have had to take a back seat this morning thanks to talk of a good old fashioned Blairite coup. The Daily Express reports that 12 Labour MPs – including Chuka Umunna, Chris Leslie and Liz Kendall – are embroiled in ‘secret plot to oust Jeremy Corbyn’. In order to do this, they have – naturally – been holding secret meetings, some of which have taken place at a luxury grade II listed farmhouse complete with Aga. The topic of discussion at the meetings is how to take back control of the party. If Labour manages to win the next election, they allegedly have a plan to rain on Jeremy Corbyn's parade.

Boris Johnson caused a stir this morning with an article in the Daily Telegraph. The former foreign secretary used his weekly column to argue that the Danish government were wrong to bring in a burka ban. Johnson said that although he thought that it was frankly 'absolutely ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letter boxes', he was uncomfortable with the idea of the state telling a 'free-born adult woman what she may or may not wear, in a public place, when she is simply minding her own business'. Critics were quick to go on the offensive over his decision to compare Muslim women dressed in full veils to postboxes and 'bank robbers'. The Muslim Council of Britain issued a statement condemning Johnson's 'regrettable' comments.

After a tawdry week for Labour which saw a flurry of fresh allegations of anti-Semitism in the party's upper ranks, Jeremy Corbyn has finally broken his silence. Writing an op-ed for the Guardian, the Labour leader admits that there is a 'real problem' – and says the party has been too slow in tackling anti-Semitism within its ranks. He promises that things will change: 'I want Jewish people to feel at home in the Labour party and be able to play their full part in our work to take our country forward. And I appreciate that this cannot happen while anti-Semitic attitudes still surface within Labour, and while trust between our party and the community is at such a low ebb.

This morning a number of reports in the papers prompted talk of a small breakthrough in the Brexit negotiations. Among them, the Financial Times – a paper not known for always seeing the sunny side of the referendum result – reported that the mood in Brussels was changing with the EU now more willing to ‘fudge’ certain aspects of the negotiations in order to avoid no deal. With Theresa May en route to visit Emmanuel Macron at his holiday retreat tomorrow in the south of France, things appeared to be looking up for No 10. So, perhaps it should come as little surprise that right on cue the rigid European Commission have popped up to pour cold water on any such claims.