Astonishingly, it appears No. 10 and the Whips’ Office are still carrying out the reshuffle. After appointing all the proper ministers, Liz had to turn her attention to filling in bag-carrying PPS jobs – the first rung on the ladder of ministerial office. Guido had heard plenty of rumours that the government was struggling with the reshuffle process thanks to backbenchers turning down offers as they look to focus on their constituencies ahead of what will be a very challenging general election. Nevertheless, here are a few of the appointments so far:

• Mark Fletcher – Chancellor
• Paul Howell – Chief Secretary to Treasury
• Gagan Mohindra – FCDO
• James Sunderland – Health
• Scott Benton – Education
• Gareth Bacon – Justice
• Luke Evans – BEIS
• Richard Holden – Trade
• Jerome Mayhew – DWP

Suzanne Webb has got the plum job of PM’s PPS, though there are typically two or three of those, so backbenchers still have hope. Official sources blame the delay on MPs being away for conference recess…

Speaking to Paul Goodman on ConservativeHome’s Moggcast podcast, Jacob denies the rumour, first reported in the Sunday Times, that he was the one who encouraged Boris to accuse Sir Keir of failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile. Now Rees-Mogg accuses a Tory colleague of being responsible:

“What was going on at the time was a very noisy chamber and people were shouting things out, I think it came from behind us”. 

Guido’s had a quick look to see who was behind the front bench and therefore who Rees-Mogg could be pointing the finger at:

Immediately behind the two we saw Alex Burghart, Shailesh Vara, Suzanne Webb, Conor Burns, Andrew Griffith, Sarah Dines and Sara Britcliffe. We have tried enhancing the video audio, with no success…