Another lively Question Time show last night, with Tory MP Johnny Mercer and Labour’s Bridget Phillipson at each other’s throats over Just Stop Oil. Dale Vince, the tree-hugging multimillionaire who happens to bankroll both the Labour Party and the eco-zealots, was sat right next to them…

Mercer lit a fuse by claiming Labour “get funded by Just Stop Oil“, with a furious Phillipson immediately demanding he retract the “categorically untrue” claim. Of course, it is categorically true they take money from the same man…

Felicity Mercer would have been in for a shock if – for some reason – she scrolled through Pink News last night. Nestled in this story on Westminster reforms to the Equality Act was a surprising piece of personal news from her husband:

“Johnny Mercer, Plymouth’s first gay MP, doubled down on his support for the trans community in his contribution to the Equality Act debate, pointing out that a change could have potentially negative impacts on intersex people and urged parliament to focus more on healthcare than who uses a toilet.”

It turns out Pink News didn’t mean to out Mercer as the newest member of the LGBTQIA+ community – they were actually talking about Luke Pollard. The story has since been quietly adjusted, although the original text has been archived for posterity. Felicity weighed in this afternoon: “I’ve had my suspicions for a long time. My family would like to request privacy over this difficult time. It has been a shock but ultimately only wish for his happiness…”

Back in government and between bouts with the Defence Secretary, Johnny Mercer used a Twitter video to repeat his pledge to deliver veteran’s ID cards in 2023.

“I promise you that, we will follow through on it. We will get veteran’s ID cards rolled out this year.”

Johnny’s words weren’t enough for one punter, who responded by asking “robogen?”. According to forces.net, this is military slang asking Mercer to commit to shaving his head if he’s found to be lying…

Eyebrows

— Rt Hon Johnny Mercer (@JohnnyMercerUK) March 5, 2023

Clearly confident in his mission, Mercer went above and beyond – pledging “eyebrows” – you don’t need an exemplary military service record to de-code what that would involve shaving. Co-conspirators can trust Guido to hold Johnny’s feet to the fire – it won’t be the first time.

The latest instalment of Conservative Home’s cabinet league table paints a somewhat promising picture for the government. Most cabinet ministers see modest increases in support, with Ben Wallace still leading the pack on 83%. Amongst the big winners are Dominic Raab and Suella Braverman, who have seen support rise by 20% and 16% respectively. The Scottish trans row is currying favour for some, as Alister Jack climbs into fifth place.

Kemi Badenoch is in a strong second place based on the polling, which was done before her anti-Boris activism came out. That may lead to a discount next month. Rishi sees a modest increase in his support, whilst Jeremy Hunt drops further, by around 7%. Thérèse Coffey also slides into the red. The real loser for the week is Johnny Mercer, who’s fallen 19 points, from fourth to thirteenth. Picking a fight with Ben Wallace is clearly not the way to Conservative members’ hearts.

The man tasked with defending Britain is now engaged in open warfare with his own junior minister. This morning Ben Wallace returned fire on Veterans’ Affairs Minister Johnny Mercer after the latter accused him of posturing ahead of the budget. Speaking to LBC, Wallace reminded Nick Ferrari that Mercer is only a junior minister, and “luckily doesn’t have to run the budget“. For those wondering how two Ministers ended up fighting each other, here’s a brief recap:

At the end of January, Wallace told Sky News “Defence has been hollowed out for years“, and “the British Army has fallen behind its peer group.” The next day, Guido revealed audio of Johnny Mercer saying Wallace had been “disingenuous” and his claims were “fundamentally not true” at an event for the Coalition for Global Prosperity. Comments he initially denied even making, until Guido published the audio…

Mercer then doubled down on his claim, telling LBC “it is obviously not credible to say that the money has been taken out of defence.” Now Wallace is pushing back with a department-measuring contest, pointing out he’s in charge of 224,000 staff, while Mercer only has “12 people in the office”. “He’s not the Secretary of State”…

Now a third soldier has entered the battle – Johnny’s wife Felicity Cornelius-Mercer:

It’s war…

Even in government, Johnny Mercer is continuing to live up to his record as a straight talker. Speaking at an event for the Coalition for Global Prosperity last night, a loose-lipped Mercer took aim at his cabinet colleagues. In response to claims by Ben Wallace yesterday that Britain’s defence capabilities had been “hollowed out“, Mercer accused the Defence Secretary of pre-budget posturing. He added the claims were “fundamentally not true” and “a little bit disingenuous to the Prime Minister”. That should make collaboration between the MoD and Office for Veterans Affairs interesting…

Fellow cabinet members weren’t Mercer’s only target. He engaged in some friendly fire on pro-growth Conservative colleagues:

“My colleagues are an interesting bunch because they – you’ve now got these people pro-growth in the party. As far as people in Plymouth are concerned, we’ve done that to destruction, it cost like £30 billion off the economy… We’ve done all that now, we’ve been through that now and we’ve literally tested it to destruction.”

Based on prior evidence, Guido had expected Johnny to be more pro-growth…

Mercer’s offensive didn’t end there though, he then launched a coded attack on previous Tory administrations:

“Now we’re back to being professional and competent. We have to have a bit of humility; things have not gone as we wanted them to. But if we do come together around that, we will win the next election.”

Ever the warrior, Johnny of course took on the opposition. He denied that Labour is good on veterans, criticising the fact he doesn’t even have an opposite number. He then landed a fatal blow, saying “if you want to go back 20 years on veterans’ affairs, Labour’s the way to do it”. That rumoured defection is off the cards then…