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
All is not well in the Labour party. After a rather bruising set of local elections for Sir Keir Starmer, now the PM’s advisers are under scrutiny after ex-transport minister Louise Haigh accused No. 10 of briefing against women. Speaking to the Beeb’s Victoria Derbyshire on Newsnight, Haigh admitted she was ‘really fed up’ of
It’s been a whirlwind few days for Sarah Pochin who has become Reform’s newest MP after winning the Runcorn and Helsby by-election by just six votes. It was only on Friday morning that Pochin discovered she had clinched the victory in the Labour safe seat – and today, Runcorn’s new representative has been sworn in
Well, well, well. Nicola Sturgeon has finally broken her silence over the Supreme Court judgment that backed the biological definition of a woman. Speaking to journalists in Holyrood today, Sturgeon insisted that while she accepts the ruling from the highest court in the land, she remains concerned about the impact on the lives of transgender
Reform UK enjoyed success in last week’s local elections, but it hasn’t all been plain sailing for Nigel Farage’s party. It transpires that one of his new councillors Donna Edmunds has quit the party just days after winning her Shropshire seat – following her suspension from the group for posting on Twitter that she had
You’d have thought ex-Labour MP Mike Amesbury would have tired of making headlines by now, but the former politician can’t seem to keep his head below the parapet. Now the former Runcorn and Helsby parliamentarian – who prompted last week’s by-election after he punched a constituent – has called on Labour backbenchers to rebel against
Uh oh. Commons Leader Lucy Powell has found herself in hot water after making some rather careless remarks on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions yesterday. The Labour politician sparked outrage over her reaction to a point by Tim Montgomerie – the founder of Conservative Home who has since aligned himself with Reform – who brought
Prince Harry has said he ‘would love a reconciliation’ with the Royals after losing a legal challenge over his security in Britain. The Duke of Sussex told the BBC that King Charles ‘won’t speak to me because of this security stuff’, but insisted he would love to get back on speaking terms with his family:
Some real characters being elected today. Remember Azhar Ali? He was dropped as Labour’s candidate in the Rochdale by-election last year after he was recorded claiming that Israel ‘allowed’ the 7 October massacre, and making dark insinuations about ‘Jewish quarters’ of the media… Well, Mr Ali (these days an independent) has just been re-elected by
To Durham, the mining heartland of the UK and a traditional working class county. Yet despite its rich history with the reds, being the first of England’s county councils to be controlled by Labour – with the party retaining that control for over a century – Nigel Farage’s Reform party is making gains. Now it
It’s been an eventful day – and there are still many more local election results to go. After a long night in Runcorn, and a full recount, Nigel Farage’s Reform party clinched the win in what had been a Labour safe seat by just six votes – securing a fifth parliamentarian and their first female
Andrea Jenkyns may have won the Greater Lincolnshire mayoral election with over 100,000 votes, but it hasn’t all been plain sailing for the Reform candidate this morning. An interview with Sky News turned sour when Jenkyns was probed about previous comments she’d made about a rival’s South African accent after the other mayoral candidate claimed
Well, well, well. It’s been a good start to the day so far for Nigel Farage’s Reform party, with the group in the lead on council seat wins, securing victory in the Greater Lincolnshire mayoralty and, to top it all off, coming first place in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election. Now the party has returned
Happy six months anniversary to Kemi Badenoch. Elected leader at the start of November, she today has to watch her party shed councillors at a rate of knots. Coming off the back of the ‘Boris bounce’ in 2021, it was always going to be a hard night for her – but even this will be
It was a long, tense night in Runcorn and Helsby as constituents and candidates awaited the results of their parliamentary by-election. Initially Labour looked to have come out on top, before reporters were informed that Reform UK were four points ahead of Sir Keir Starmer’s army. ‘Doubtful’ votes prompted a recount – and almost eight
Oh dear. It has been a pretty grim night for Sir Keir Starmer’s party. Loyalists have been out spinning desperately, with Science Secretary Peter Kyle given the thankless task of defending the indefensible on the overnight shows. One ray of sunshine which the party is citing is the North Tyneside mayoralty, where Ros Jones narrowly
Dear oh dear. Rachel Reeves has found herself in yet another spot of bother, as it transpires that the Chancellor is under investigation for a late declaration of theatre tickets. The Labour politician is being probed by Westminster’s standards watchdog for belatedly declaring two sets of gifted tickets from the National Theatre after the freebies
Well, well, well. The ramifications of the Supreme Court’s ruling on single-sex spaces are beginning to be seen. It transpires that transwomen are to be banned from playing women’s football in both England and Scotland. The judgment from the highest court in the land that backed the biological definition of a woman put pressure on
Is the era of political satire over? The Kingston Riverside TownSq venue seems to think so. It transpires that the Surrey events space has cancelled an exhibition of political cartoonists’ work called Licence to Offend in case, er, anyone was offended. You couldn’t make it up… The Kingston TownSq venue has cancelled an exhibition of
It’s not a typical culprit that has ruffled Labour party feathers this week but instead the party’s former leader. In a notable intervention, Sir Tony Blair insisted on Tuesday that the current ‘irrational’ approach to hitting the net zero carbon emissions target by 2050 was ‘doomed to fail’, before pointing out that the ‘inconvenient facts’
As politicians complain about a Britain in decline, perhaps they should look closer to home. Mr S can reveal that, over the last five years, a total of nine Commons staff have been probed for criminal activity allegations – and yet fewer than half were dismissed. Talk about falling standards, eh? A total of nine