Steerpike

Keir Starmer has not being having a good time of it in the Commons. Once again, the PM has been dragged in front of the House to explain why on earth he appointed Peter Mandelson as US ambassador – despite his well-publicised relationship with the billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. This time, the questions have been over Mandelson’s security clearance and why he was still appointed ambassador after failing his vetting. The PM has blamed civil servants for keeping him in the dark, and has sacked Foreign Office permanent secretary Sir Olly Robbins, who will give his side of the story tomorrow. Still, Starmer’s explanations for Mandelson’s failed vetting has been met with scepticism in some parts.

Spin, spin, spin! That furious sound you can hear out of Westminster is Labour's apparatchiks doing their damnedest to dig Keir Starmer out of yet another hole. The Prime Minister is accused of misleading parliament over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as Our Man in Washington. The Labour grandee failed his developed vetting clearance in late 2024 to become the US ambassador – but the decision was then overruled by the Foreign Office to ensure he could take up his post. Downing Street are briefing that Starmer was only made aware of this fact on Tuesday night this week. But there are three claims that Mr S would like to see the PM justify in the coming days.

Whooooo remembers John Bercow? It has been sometime since the disgraced former Speaker attracted Steerpike's attention. Having been banished unceremoniously from The Traitors two years ago, Mr S's chief preoccupation with Bercow was whether or not he remains a member of the Labour party, having been suspended some four years ago. But the onetime Monday Club devotee is back in the headlines, as part of his never-ending quest for the spotlight. It seems that Bercow, having done his damnedest to thwart Britain's parliamentary democracy, is now turning his attention to politics overseas. A quick Google of his name reveals that the pint-sized parliamentarian has rebranded himself as an expert on Iranian matters.

Purdah is one of those words familiar to anyone covering the world of Westminster. It refers to the 'pre-election period of sensitivity,' when government activity and public communications are restricted to ensure impartiality. In these times of political crisis, it seems to be the word on everyone's lips: indeed, back in February, when Keir Starmer's days looked to be numbered, the Financial Times ran a piece titled: 'Political crises lead to ‘perma-purdah’ in Whitehall.' But while the Pink 'Un is happy using the term, it seems that the right-on mandarins of SW1 are a little too squeamish to do the same. For as Antonia Romeo, the new Head of the Civil Service, gets cracking in the role, it has been confirmed that purdah is dead and buried in Whitehall.

With almost 5,000 wards up for grabs, it's all hands to the pump at these local elections. And in their desire to field a full slate for 7 May, the good Conservatives of Greenwich have turned to a familiar face to stand in the unpromising territory of Woolwich Arsenal. Hugh O'Leary, best known as Liz Truss's husband, is standing next month, having previously contested other unwinnable wards back in 1998, 2002 and 2006. A victory here really would be the mother of all comebacks... O'Leary is believed to be the first spouse of a Prime Minister to stand for political office after leaving Downing Street since Margaret Lloyd George, who sat on Criccieth Urban District Council from 1919 to 1941.

It seems that the Chagos deal is the grift which keeps on giving. The government last night confirmed that it had been forced to pause the legislation granting the islands’ handover, following a U-turn by Washington. Now, Mr S can reveal that humiliation follows humiliation for our poor, beleaguered Prime Minister. Sir Keir has made much of his career as a human rights lawyer. But now it seems that he is himself accused of breaching the very same rights that he has championed… This week the Chagos Government’s Attorney General, James Tumbridge, filed a petition to the United Nations (UN), specifically accusing Starmer personally of committing a ‘crime against humanity’.

Reform's approach to these local elections seemed to be a variation on a wedding classic: 'something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.' As well as the fireworks and the town hall-style meetings, there are a fair few ex-Tories now swelling Nigel Farage's ranks. Mr S has done some counting and it seems that a decent chunk of former Conservative MPs are now standing for Reform. Currently the count is four. There is Damien Moore, formerly the Honourable Member for Southport, now on the slate in Westminster. Next up is Marco Longhi, the ex-Dudley North MP, who is staying and fighting in his local patch. Then there is Henry Smith, the onetime Crawley champion, now battling in Reigate.

When is an adult not an adult? It’s a question that the Labour party does not seem to be able to answer. Having struggled for years with the definition a woman, the party is now struggling to explain what constitutes a child. In their manifesto, the government committed to giving 16- and 17-year-olds the vote, arguing that it was necessary to ‘increase the engagement of young people in our vibrant democracy.’ In a press release last year they went further, arguing: Young people... already contribute to society by working, paying taxes and serving in the military... This will bring UK-wide elections in line with Scotland and Wales and is a major step towards meeting a manifesto commitment, ushering in the biggest change to UK democracy in a generation.

As we head towards the Scottish parliamentary elections in May, one party leader has a particularly unenviable job: step forward Anas Sarwar. Only a couple of months ago the Scottish Labour leader was calling for the party’s national leader, Sir Keir Starmer, to step down. Now he has to convince the Scottish electorate to put his party in charge north of the border. Speaking to Michael Gove on the Quite Right! podcast, Sarwar did not say he had any regrets. Asked if it was the right thing to call for Starmer to resign, he responded that: ‘I think honesty is always the best policy… I've got to look people in the eye over the course of the next six weeks in Scotland and ask them to put their faith and trust in me.

An own goal or back-of-the-net? The pundit class are divided on Reform's latest stunt, with Nigel Farage rocking up to Portman Road to snap pictures waving an Ipswich Town shirt. But while some are describing it as 'PR suicide', within Milbank Tower there is delight at the 'cut-through' of the Clacton MP's latest photo opportunity. One senior source told Mr S that the mood among Reform HQ’s digital team was one of 'a job well done'. So much for The Blues, eh? Content related to 'Ipswich-gate' was seen nearly 15 million times in the first 72 hours across Farage and Reform’s platforms. The core digital team – among whom there are a few twenty-somethings 'Barclaysmen' – have tapped into the 'banter' of football Twitter to create what one calls a 'popcorn-worthy shitstorm'.

Morgan McSweeney may be out of office – but he is certainly not out of the headlines. A mystery concerns the ex-No. 10 chief of staff's phone, amid ongoing Tory pressure to release the so-called 'Mandelson files': all the messages relating to the appointment of the (now former) US ambassador. The Sun reported on Saturday that McSweeney's phone was nicked on 20 October – days after Labour officials began to worry that a motion would be put to parliament demanding the release of McSweeney's messages to Mandelson. As one put it to Steerpike's colleague Tim Shipman: 'If the Tories pass a humble address motion, Morgan is fucked.

Ding, ding, ding! In the teal corner, it's Tim Montgomerie, longtime Tory sage turned Reform defector. And, in the, er, other teal corner, it's, um, Matt Goodwin, onetime academic turned Reform parliamentary candidate. Goodwin's latest book Suicide of a Nation: Immigration, Islam, Identity has come under fire online over the veracity of its claims and alleged use of ChatGPT. So Montgomerie decided that now was the perfect time to stick the boot in, writing on X that: The whole controversy over @GoodwinMJ 's book reminds me of the early warning sign that Rachel Reeves' dodgy footnotes provided about her. @reformparty_uk should now fully investigate Mr Goodwin's book and if there are repeated examples of factual error he should be removed from the candidates list.

Was that the worst PMQs of the year? Amid Kemi Badenoch's constant questioning about Peter Mandelson, Keir Starmer turned into the Incredible Human Deflector, constantly grabbing at anything approaching even a half-response. Greenland, Iran and even, er, Nick Timothy's tweets – all were seized by a flailing Prime Minister for whom even ChatGPT would struggle to come up with a decent line. So it was left to Andrew Snowden, the Bolton bruiser, to deliver the highlight of this week's session. The Tory MP hammered Starmer, bemoaning how 'Every week, the Prime Minister comes here and reads out this pre-scripted nonsense that bears no resemblance to the questions he's answered.

In opposition, Keir Starmer was at pains to emphasise how different he would be to those wicked old corrupt Tories. But in government, it has proved quite another matter, what with Lord Alli's clothes, Louise Haigh's phones and Angela Rayner's missing £40,000 stamp duty. Now, Mr S brings news of another example where this government has proved to be less than whiter-than-white... A fortnight ago, Tory MP Greg Stafford rose in the House to ask Darren Jones about the appointment of Ellen Atkinson as the new head of the Cabinet Office's Propriety and Ethics (PET) team – a position once held by Sue Gray. Jones was asked if this 'was appointed without an external recruitment process or written ministerial sign off', to which he replied 'no and no'.