Penny Mordaunt was in characteristically good form in Commons business questions today. In response to a… passionate rant from Andrew Bridgen on the BBC’s vaccine coverage, the Leader of the House responded with a solid put-down:

“A very important moment, Madam Deputy Speaker, I think we should pause for a moment because I think we’ve just heard the first cuckoo of spring”.

A well-delivered jab…

Dawn Butler’s Commons hissy fit yesterday went exactly as planned: her own Twitter clip is currently on 1.4 million views, though she’s retweeted various other uploads of the clip which total 6.3 million in about half a day. She even had a speedily filmed and produced Byline TV interview out on the strop stunt…

It turns out Dawn’s stunt came very close to backfiring. Thankfully for her she was only suspended for the remainder of the day’s sitting – if she’d been thrown out using a similar standing order, and been suspended until the next sitting day, she would have remained a suspended MP going into the Summer recess, thereby being unable to draw a salary for over six weeks. Six weeks of an MP’s salary would have come to £9453. Commons sources suggest Dawn’s dodging of this unlucky outcome was unlikely to have been deliberate after a careful reading of Parliamentary procedure…

The Spectator claimed this morning that proxy voting was the “… next parliamentary scandal waiting to happen”, pointing to the rapid growth in proxy voting in recent days as having “profound constitutional implications” as a result of over 200 Tory MPs now letting their whips vote for them, instead of casting their own independent vote. Coincidentally a couple of MPs have voiced their concerns to Guido, telling him to look at the huge numbers now placing their vote with the party authorities. It’s a good headline, though the truth is less exciting…

A massive growth in the government’s power would have the potential for scandal, however this is no executive coup. The rise in proxy voting is merely a temporary Covid-friendly issue to reduce the number of MPs crowding in the voting lobby – with the measures getting more takeup during lockdown 2. Even 203 proxy votes sitting with the Tory deputy chief whip doesn’t mean they control how votes are cast – proxy voting whips can rebel on behalf of the MP if that’s their wish.

James Forsyth called on the “bulk issuing of proxy votes [to] be reversed.” He’ll therefore be delighted to hear the freedom for MPs to easily use proxy voting is – in the words of the house – just for “during the pandemic” and is time-limited until 30^th March 2021. Guido likes a scandal about MPs not doing their job properly as much as the next guy, however this isn’t it…

MPs will be breathing a sigh of relief later on as Guido can reveal a Written Ministerial Statement will confirm the heavily a rumoured and lobbied for change of remit for the Boundary Commission. As Guido pointed to in January, the Government has now officially decided to maintain the number of seats in the Commons at 650, rather than Cameron’s 2010 promise of reducing the number to 600. The statement will justify the retention of 50 extra seats on the basis of the 73 UK MEPs losing theirs, and an alleged increased workload on MPs. This, of course, dubiously rests on the assumption that the work MEPs did was consequential…

UPDATE: The statement has now been published:

“This is a change in policy from the position previously legislated for under the Coalition Government. Since that policy was established in the Coalition Agreement, the United Kingdom has now left the European Union. The UK Parliament will have a greater workload now we are taking back control and regaining our political and economic independence. It is therefore sensible for the number of parliamentary constituencies to remain at 650.”