Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike
‘You are focusing on Pakistani grooming gangs, because, probably, you’re racist.’ That’s what Emily Maitlis told ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe when he had the misfortune of appearing on the News Agents podcast yesterday. But is she right? In fact, Pakistani men are up to five times as likely to be responsible for child sex grooming offences than
Oh dear. Now legal action has been launched against the UK’s equalities watchdog – alleging that guidance around transgender people and toilet facilities breaches human rights law. Jolyon Maugham’s Good Law Project has today announced it has instructed a team of lawyers in a case against the Equality and Human Rights Commission and Labour’s equalities
To the SNP’s Dear Leader, who just can’t seem to keep out of the spotlight. Now Scotland’s former first minister – who is still a sitting MSP – has been accused of prioritising herself over her constituents after her declared extra earnings reveal she is earning more from her second jobs than her role as
Back to our hapless Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who has found himself embroiled in a new war of words. No, not with Sergey Lavrov or president Xi – this time, it’s with a French cab driver. Zut alors! Sources close to the Foreign Office denied Lammy had been aggressive in any way Lammy got into
To the fires linked to Sir Keir Starmer’s property and car that have been probed this week. It now transpires that a 21-year-old man has been charged with arson with intent to endanger life over attacks at properties linked to the Prime Minister. Roman Lavrynovych, a Ukrainian national living in Sydenham, London, is alleged to
While rumours continue to swirl about whether the Conservatives will strike a deal with Reform UK, exclusive polling shared with the Spectator suggests that voters aren’t all that convinced by the aligning of the Tories with Nigel Farage’s party. In fact, it appears that almost six in ten Brits believe the Tories and Labour are
Starmer Chameleon is at it again. Now Sir Keir has announced plans for a Rwanda-style immigration scheme after scrapping a rather similar idea put forward under Rishi Sunak’s Conservative party. It transpires that the Prime Minister has opened formal talks with a number of Balkan states about sending asylum seekers to detention centres overseas –
They say that politics is all about priorities. But what happens when the public says you’ve got it wrong? Mr S has got his hands on some polling – and it doesn’t make for happy reading for No. 10. Some 76 per cent of UK adults say the government has the wrong priorities, with low
Well, well, well. Sir Keir Starmer’s big immigration speech on Monday prompted accusations the Prime Minister was trying to ‘out-Reform Reform’ – but if this is the case, it doesn’t seem to be working. A new survey by political advisory firm True North has recorded the highest vote share to date for Farage’s party in
While Nigel Farage’s Reform party has seen success in the local elections this month, their former MP Rupert Lowe has received a bit of good news himself. It transpires that the Greater Yarmouth politician will not face criminal charges in relation to an allegation of threats towards the party’s chairman Zia Yusuf – with Lowe
To the green thorn in Sir Keir Starmer’s side: Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband. The lefty veteran may have spent two decades in Westminster engraving stones and taking aim at airport terminals, but all that could be set to end in 2029 if Reform UK’s local election results are anything to go by. Analysis of
Assisted dying has been a hot topic both north and south of the border this week, as Scottish politicians voted on Tuesday on their version of the euthanasia bill while Kim Leadbeater’s legislation will face another round of voting in Westminster on Friday. But in another blow for the Labour MP, now the Royal College
Will Gary Lineker ever learn? As if the BBC Sports pundit hadn’t caused enough controversy, now the left-wing centre forward has sparked outrage over a pro-Palestine post he shared on Instagram. The Match of the Day pundit took to the social media site to share a reel first posted by the activist group Palestine Lobby
It is less than a fortnight since the Runcorn by-election, caused by the resignation of Mike Amesbury for punching a constituent. And today, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has announced that Tory MP Patrick Spencer has been charged with two counts of sexual assault. The charges follow two alleged incidents involving two separate women at
On Monday Prime Minister Keir Starmer made his big immigration speech in which he warned that without tightening rules the UK risked becoming an ‘island of strangers’. Now a new YouGov poll has revealed that 50 per cent of Brits see immigration as the top issue facing Britain – the highest level since Brexit. The
A 21-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life after a fire at Sir Keir Starmer’s family home in Tufnell Park in London. The London Fire Brigade and the police had attended the property shortly after 1.30 a.m. on Monday. While the door to the four-bedroom home owned by
To north London, where the Metropolitan Police are investigating a fire that broke out at Sir Keir Starmer’s personal home early this morning. Shortly after 1.30 a.m., the force attended the property alongside the London Fire Brigade after receiving a report of the fire. While the door to the four-bedroom home owned by the Prime
To Holyrood, where parliamentarians will tomorrow vote on Scotland’s assisted dying bill. Scottish Liberal Democrat Liam McArthur has put forward legislation that would allow those deemed terminally ill north of the border to take their own lives – as Kim Leadbeater’s bill for England and Wales makes its way through Westminster. But support for the
Retired special constable Julian Foulkes is one of the latest targets of police officers who seem more eager to crack down on free speech than fight crime. The 71-year-old Spectator reader was detained for eight hours in November 2023 before being interrogated and given a caution after he referenced an anti-Semitic mob storming a Russian
The row over Lucy Powell’s outrageous comments are not going away anytime soon. It was on Any Questions last week that the Leader of the House of Commons suggested that discussing the subject of grooming gangs effectively amounted to a ‘dog whistle.’ She has now been forced to issue a grovelling apology in the House,
