Steerpike

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.

The in-and-out movements of the Bravermans have been quite something to behold. This morning it was the turn of Suella to (finally) join Reform, with Nigel Farage confirming that he had been in on-and-off talks with her for a year. 'I thought she'd already gone', was the reaction from one Tory wag on the wet wing of the party who Mr S spoke to earlier. But Suella's long and steady journey from the Tories to Reform is nothing as exciting as that of her husband Rael. He signed up to Farage's party as early as December 2024 and thereafter spent months excitedly tweeting that every Tory MP deserved to lose their seat. But last summer he spectacularly quit the party 'with immediate effect' after Zia Yusuf fired off a series of tweets about Suella about the Afghan data leak scandal.

Poor old Andy and those sad eyes of his. The Mayor of Greater Manchester has had a pretty rotten day, being blocked by his own party's ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) by some eight votes to one. His sole backer was Lucy Powell, whose candidacy for deputy leader was memorably likened to Lurleen to Burnham's George Wallace: a useful proxy to circumvent constitutional limits. Burnham initially sought to take all this with good grace. 'Tomorrow I return with full focus to my role as Mayor of GM', he declared defiantly on X, 'defending everything we have built in our city-region over many years. I decided to put myself forward to prevent the divisive politics of Reform from damaging that. We are stronger together and let’s stay that way.

The Phoney War is no more. Former Labour minister Andrew Gwynne is on the brink of standing down as an MP, after losing the whip during last year's WhatsApp group scandal. A by-election is therefore on the cards in Gwynne's Manchester seat, potentially paving the way for the ever-ambitious local mayor Andy Burnham to return to the Commons and make a leadership challenge against Keir Starmer. Let's hope the Westminster Tesco gets the extra popcorn in... Gwynne has been hanging around SW1 for almost a year, waiting to reach agreement on his gold-plated MPs' pension. A deal is understood to have been done, paving the way for him to disappear into taxpayer-funded obscurity. In his place could come Burnham – if he is able to get past the Labour NEC first.

Another one bites the dust. After Kemi Badenoch expelled Robert Jenrick from the Conservative party in Westminster, it seems that her Welsh counterpart Darren Millar this week wants to get in on the act too. This morning he released a statement on X, declaring that he expelled James Evans MS from both the Welsh shadow cabinet and the party grouping in the Senedd. Millar wrote: This morning, I took the decision to remove James Evans from the Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet and withdraw the Conservative whip. I did so after being informed by James that he was continuing to engage with Reform representatives about the possibility of defecting to the party, in spite of his personal assurances on Friday that he had rejected an approach they initiated last week.

It seems that Kemi Badenoch isn't done with Robert Jenrick just yet. Tonight she is set to meet Tory MPs from both the 92 Group and the Common Sense Group. But before that, Tory apparatchiks have sought to finish what she started on Thursday when she sacked Robert Jenrick from the Shadow Cabinet, expelled him from the party and removed the party whip. Talk about no nonsense... At least five allies of Jenrick have had their membership of the Conservative party cancelled, following the defection of the onetime Shadow Justice Secretary.

It seems that Nigel Farage has not taken too kindly to all Kemi Badenoch's talk of 'cleaning house'. The leader of Reform UK has had his fair share of run-ins with different Tory MPs since being elected to parliament in 2024, even going so far as to call half of them 'stuffy, boring old bastards' at a Press Gallery lunch last year. Why don't you tell us what you really think, eh Nige? One Honourable Member who has attracted Farage's particulae ire is Sir Geoffrey Cox, the baritone barrister who sits for Torridge and West Devon. The former Attorney-General has hit the headlines in recent years for his outside earnings – including £75,000 from the Government of Mauritius for legal advice ahead of the handover of the Chagos Islands.

Oh dear. With the right in civil war, Keir Starmer might have thought his week was ending on a high, after yet another U-turn – this time over digital ID. But his loose-lipped cabinet have done it again, telling the Times that they believe Kemi Badenoch's dramatic sacking of Robert Jenrick ought to serve as a model for our poor Prime Minister. Perhaps Sir Keir lacks Kemi's confidence eh? In a series of briefings tonight, various ministers sound off about Wes Streeting, the omnipresent Health Secretary who is never backward about coming forward. One member of the cabinet told the Times that 'What he [Streeting] is doing is so obvious, he is repeatedly breaching collective responsibility, he is attacking Number 10, he is undermining all of us.

It’s a treacherous business, politics. One day you’re the future Tory leader, the next you’re sitting on the independent benches with Ayoub Khan. But Robert Jenrick’s expulsion from the shadow cabinet has meant a spot has opened up at the top table for another leading light. To replace Jenrick as shadow justice secretary, Kemi Badenoch has turned to a man who backed him for leader in 2024: Nick Timothy, the long time tormentor of West Midlands Police. Timothy is both a newbie and a veteran: a longtime Westminster operator and the first of the 2024 Tory intake to join the shadow cabinet. Like many of the best and brightest, he served his apprenticeship in the Conservative Research Department and then did a longtime spell under Theresa May at the Home Office and then (briefly) No.