Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen
9.11am BST
Good morning. After four weeks of intense turmoil after the Brexit vote, British politics is getting back to – well, normal probably isn’t quite the right word, but “non-frantic” is correct. The Commons is in recess, and sensible people are planning their holidays. And political correspondents are left with just three leadership contests to cover (Ukip, the Greens, and of course Labour).
On the Labour front, the “officegate” row is still rumbling on. As the Observer reported on Sunday, Seema Malhotra, the former shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, has accused staff working for Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell of entering her office without authorisation. McDonnell responded yesterday in an interview on the Andrew Marr show, dismissing the incident as an honest mistake. But last night Malhotra hit back, using an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Westminster House to accuse McDonnell of trying to downplay the seriousness of what happened. She told the programme:
I was pleased for my staff to hear John apologise and I think that was important, but I have found his reaction to my concerns extraordinary in trying to shift away from the seriousness of what happened … This is about the safety and security of MPs’ offices, about parliamentary privilege, which means people’s confidence that an MP’s office, where constituency and parliamentary business is carried out, is secure. It’s extremely sad that a team that is working incredibly hard were feeling intimated, so intimated by somebody from the leader’s office, that they didn’t want to leave anyone alone in the office because they weren’t sure who would come in, what would be said.
Related: Theresa May to rule out return of border checks between UK and Ireland
Related: Sir Philip Green labeled “worse than Maxwell” over BHS pensions black hole – business live
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Sig Nordal 