Steerpike

It is Robert Jenrick's big day out today. The newly-minted Reform 'Shadow Chancellor' is making his first speech since his appointment, with plenty of soothing words to calm the jitters of the bond markets. Sporting a snazzy pair of specs, he was, in the words of one Tory, every inch 'reassuring Rob'. But the top newsline from his presser was his decision to kill Reform's two-child benefit cap – Nigel Farage's big offer to Labour voters last summer. Jenrick said: As a signal of intent, today, Reform is changing our policy on the two-child cap for Universal Credit. The policy was well-meaning. We want to help working families have more children. But right now, we just cannot afford to do so with welfare. So it has to go.

The Chagos deal is set to return to the House of Lords after recess. But a group of islanders are determined to do all they can to avert the handover, by protesting right up until the point of surrender. On Monday, a four-man landing party landed on the archipelago to establish a permanent settlement, more than 50 years after the population was evicted from the British colony. Talk about stop the boats... They were led by Misley Mandarin, First Minister of what was – until then– the Chagossian government in exile. Standing on the beach and looking back out at the Indian Ocean, he declared that hundreds more Chagossians would soon follow.

You wait years for a right-wing party – and then a veritable fleet comes along at once. After Advance UK, Heritage and Reclaim, now we have Restore Britain. It is being fronted by Rupert Lowe, the Great Yarmouth MP who currently sits as an independent. He initially set up Restore Britain as a 'political movement' after he was suspended from Reform UK last March. Cue the likes of board members Susan Hall and Gavin Williamson signalling they will be cutting ties... Restore Britain is now expected to act as an umbrella political party, with locally based political parties – such as Lowe's own Great Yarmouth First party – acting as partners.

The SNP might be heading to another victory – but all is not going swimmingly for the nationalists. The party's former chief executive Peter Murrell – best known as Nicola Sturgeon's estranged husband – is in the firing line over more allegations concerning the party finances. Murrell is facing a charge of embezzling £459,000 from the party over a period of more than 12 years, according to a copy of an indictment seen by the BBC and Scottish Sun. Uh oh... According to the document, Murrell is accused of embezzling the funds between August 2010 and January 2023. He is is alleged to have used the cash to buy items including cars, a motorhome, luxury goods, shoes, cosmetics and jewellery over a twelve-and-a-half year period.

When a PM is in crisis, what do they do? Sack the head of the civil service. Having lost both his Chief of Staff and Director of Communications at the beginning of the week, Keir Starmer resolved to make it a hattrick by dispensing with the services of his short-serving Cabinet Secretary. Poor old Chris Wormald is on the way out – but it does not look like his intended replacement is going to be easy for Starmer either... For Simon McDonald, the former Permanent Secretary at the Foreign Office, has now popped up in the news to warn No. 10 about plans to replace Wormald with Antonia Romeo without a new appointment process.

Just stop Doyle! It was another bad Prime Ministers' Questions this week for Keir Starmer today. Once again, one of those mysterious appointments for which the Prime Minister is never responsible came back to haunt him in public. After Peter Mandelson last week, this time it is Matthew Doyle, Starmer's former comms chief who was ennobled last month. Talk about jobs for the boys... Unfortunately just four weeks after his ennoblement, Labour have already been forced to kick him out of their party in the House of Lords, after it emerged Doyle had campaigned for a friend charged with possessing indecent images of children.

This is Keir Starmer's worst week in politics – and it is still only Tuesday. The constant flailings of the embattled Labour PM never cease to shock, amuse and entertain. But having successfully quelled the immediate revolt against his premiership, Starmer has, once again, pulled defeat from the jaws of victory. For tonight the main story is about another of his onetime advisers: this time, Matthew Doyle, whom the PM ennobled/kicked upstairs only last month. The Liz Truss of Labour peers... Doyle has had the Labour whip pulled because of his links to a convicted sex offender.

Will the last person out of No. 10 please turn out the lights? First, it was Morgan McSweeney; then, Tim Allan. Tonight, Chris Wormald, is the latest name being about to depart the heart of government. It was just 14 months ago that Sir Chris was appointed Cabinet Secretary – the most senior official in Whitehall – by Keir Starmer. At the time, the Prime Minister oozed oleaginous praise on him, issuing a gushing press release that described him as a model of 'exceptional civil service leadership.' Someone pass the sick bag... Unfortunately for Sir Chris, those words are just the latest to come back and haunt Sir Keir. For it is now expected that Wormald is to become one of the fall guys for the vetting process that cleared Lord Mandelson to become ambassador to the US.

It's a tough time for the nation's finances – but don't worry, one man is doing ok. Lord Mandelson received a taxpayer-funded payoff worth tens of thousands of pounds – despite being sacked as US ambassador over his links to the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. The Sunday Times reports today that Mandy secured an exit payment equivalent to three months’ salary from the Foreign Office after he was forced out in September last year, just seven months into the role. Not bad, eh? His salary has not yet been published by the government but the post of ambassador to the US reportedly commands the highest in the diplomatic service. This is pay band SCS4, between £155,000 and £220,000 per annum.

Oh Mandy. You came and you took and kept taking. For it is not just the Labour party wrestling with the fallout from the Peter Mandelson scandal. Global Counsel – the lobbying firm which he co-founded in 2010 with his former aide Benjamin Wegg-Prosser – is battling to cope with the wave of bad PR which has followed Mandelson's humiliation. And now, amid reports of firms looking at cutting ties over Mandelson's stake in GC, its leadership has decided to act. Wegg-Prosser is out as CEO, according to an email by chairman Archie Norman, first seen by Guido Fawkes.

With 91 days to go until the Senedd elections, Reform are polling second – so it's probably about time that they actually unveiled their leader. At a press conference in Newport this morning, Nigel Farage produced not just one rabbit but two. First, there was the long-awaited defection of James Evans after his expulsion from the Tories last month. Then, there was the announcement of Dan Thomas as the actual leader. 'Who?' asked most of the accompanying hacks... Thomas might lack a national profile but he boasts both roots in the Valleys and experience of local government. A former Barnet Council leader from 2019 to 2022, he switched to Reform from the Tories last year, standing down as a councillor for Finchley Church End in December after returning to Wales with his family.

It's Wednesday so that means another ritual humiliation for Keir Starmer at PMQs. As his government limps towards the May elections, the weekly spankings by Kemi Badenoch often seem to blur into one. But this week's session will stand out in the annals for the sheer torrent of criticism directed at Starmer over his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as the British ambassador to Washington. Oh Mandy... But while Labour MPs fume over another fine mess which Starmer has got them into, Mr S was intrigued by the beleaguered premier's response to a different line of questioning this lunchtime. On Monday, Mark Francois, the Tory shadow defence minister, raised the question of Starmer's work with disgraced lawyer Phil Shiner, struck off for vexatious claims about British troops in Iraq.

It's been a pretty terrible start to the week for the government. Amid mounting revelations from the Epstein files, the police are now probing claims that the former British ambassador Lord Mandelson committed misconduct in public office. Despite Mandy's links to the disgraced sexual predator being already well-known in late 2024, Keir Starmer nevertheless still chose to appoint him as 'Our man in Washington' – a decision he must now bitterly regret... The embattled PM rocked up in the House yesterday to give an update on his trip to China. But before he got a chance to speak, he had the joy of listening to a point of order about his own legal record.

It is one of the staple headlines of British politics: Peter Mandelson has resigned. The 'Prince of Darkness' was sacked as US ambassador last September, but that has not stopped the flurry of stories about the alleged nature of his relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. A further three million emails were published this weekend, leading to another avalanche of claims about Mandelson's links to the dead sex offender. Sounds like Mandy could do with his own Mandy... The latest batch of files released by the US Department of Justice included three apparent bank statements detailing three money transfers of $25,000 each from the paedophile financier in 2003 and 2004.

It's a day ending in 'y' – so that means another scandal for Keir Starmer's beleaguered team. This time it concerns a lobbying firm run by an ex-Labour MP. Jim Murphy, the party's onetime Scottish leader, now heads up Arden Communications which has lobbied Sir Keir's administration on behalf of arms manufacturers, oil companies and energy giants. Truly the best of Labour values... Ahead of the election, Arden provided support to more than 30 prospective Labour MPs in the run-up to the 2024 general election. And now, post-election, they are keen to make the most of their relationship with Britain's governing party.

Andy Burnham may not be standing – but at least we know one man who is. With only five weeks to go until the Denton and Gorton by election, the race is now on to find suitable candidates to win the Manchester constituency on 26 February. The Greens are due to unveil their candidate later today, but first it was the turn of Reform, who decided to go for one of their own. Matt Goodwin, the onetime Ukip academic turned Reform activist, was unveiled at a press conference this afternoon by Lee Anderson. Well, who knows the party better, eh? Goodwin’s strategy was made obvious by his presser in which he sought to frame this by election as a ‘referendum on Keir Starmer.