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
More revealing Matt Hancock messages dropped late last night as the Telegraph released another tranche of the former health secretary’s WhatsApps. Here are some of the stand-out lines on day two of the lockdown files: Matt Hancock said that then education secretary Gavin Williamson (who was ‘going absolutely gangbusters’ to keep schools open) was risking a ‘policy
Ding, ding, ding! It’s day two of the revelations from the Telegraph’s lockdown files and today’s chosen battlefield is the school playground. The paper splashes on claims that Matt Hancock as Health Secretary fought a ‘rearguard action’ to shut down the nation’s schools against the efforts of Sir Gavin Williamson, who held the Education brief
It’s not a great time to be a friend of Matt Hancock, knowing that any moment the Telegraph might splash the contents of your private WhatsApp conversations. Still, good old Jim Bethell – a veteran of the Ministry of Sound and the Department of Health – was wheeled out to defend him tonight. And in
Wanted: a chief of staff for Sir Keir. Steerpike was first to break the news last year that the Labour leader was on the hunt for a top civil servant to become his head honcho. And today Sky has a delicious report that suggests he has found his man – or woman in this case.
It’s not just the spectre of Brexit that is haunting Westminster. Overnight the Telegraph has released a smorgasbord of stories based on a cache of Matt Hancock’s WhatsApps during the Covid pandemic. Some 100,000 messages were handed to the newspaper by the co-author of his diaries Isabel Oakeshott. Below are some of the stand out
Is even the BBC starting to accept reality on questions of sex and gender? The Corporation has often been woker than woke, not least thanks to militant internal staff groups seemingly ready to persecute colleagues who don’t adhere to doctrine on trans matters. But the case of the Scottish double rapist Isla Bryson/Adam Graham has loosened
Those cunning geniuses at SNP HQ have done it again. Fed up with Forbes, Yousaf and Regan committing news at every turn, the spin doctors at Gordon Lamb House have come up with an ingenious plan to stop their candidates’ gaffes, attacks and infighting being reported. Their solution? Ban the journalists. Brilliant! This latest wheeze
A rich irony today on the BBC. Jacqui Smith, the former Home Secretary, popped up on Politics Live to talk about the important of civility in public life. She is the chair of trustees for the Jo Cox Foundation, which has today launched a civility commission to crack down on abuse in public life. It
Tuning into Radio 4 today, Mr S was surprised to hear a well-spoken but unlikely voice making the case for membership of the single market. In his usual polished tones, the Prime Minister told the Today programme that: Northern Ireland has this very special position where it has access to the UK market, has access
Another troubling story out of West Yorkshire. Four pupils are reported to have been suspended from Wakefield’s Kettlethorpe High School after a copy of the Quran was scuffed by students on Wednesday. A meeting between the head teacher and ‘community leaders’ was called on Friday, with a West Yorkshire police officer even in attendance. The
Boris, Brexit and the Northern Ireland Protocol – all are dominating the news agenda yet again. So it only seems right then that Matt Hancock takes his rightful place once more at the heart of public life. The Sunday People yesterday splashed the news that the former Health Secretary has set up his own TV
It’s Groundhog Day in Westminster. A week ago, many were braced for the grand unveiling of the new, improved Northern Ireland Protocol – only for it, er, to be shelved at the last moment. The key actors of various Brexit-related factions have been out all over the airwaves in recent days. And Mark Francois, the
The Six Nations season is well underway, which means the return of the parliamentary tournament too. Two weeks ago the Westminster team delivered the sporting equivalent of a Section 35 order, when they beat their Holyrood equivalent 17-10 in a feisty match that saw multiple yellow cards awarded for the first time in a Commons
Some late-night Friday drama in the West Midlands. The selection committee of the Stafford Conservative Association have tonight passed a motion to prevent incumbent MP Theo Clarke from being their candidate next time around. Clarke was elected in 2019 and resigned her role as a government trade envoy last July in protest at Boris Johnson’s
There’s been a sense of deja vu in Westminster in recent days, with a Tory leader under pressure on Europe from the right of his party. As Rishi Sunak tries to finalise a new deal on the Northern Ireland protocol, Tory Brexiteers have been questioning the wisdom of the Prime Minister’s strategy. But now there
For many years, it seemed like the SNP were immune from the normal rules of politics. Their unity was unshakeable, its leader unquestioned. Message discipline was rigid; disputes played out privately, away from the cameras. But all that has now crumbled following last month’s trans debacle and Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation. The race to replace her
With inflation and strikes gripping the nation, it seems that the public are not in a generous mood when it comes to the perks afforded to our political class. Following Labour’s much-hyped ‘GPC files’, Mr S has done some polling and the results don’t make good living for those in Westminster who enjoy a life
With all the focus on Kate Forbes’ social views, it’s perhaps worth another look at Humza Yousaf’s own record on gay marriage. Back in November 2013, the now-favourite to succeed Nicola Sturgeon was a junior minister for External Affairs. He voted that month in favour of the general principles of the Marriage and Civil Partnerships
There’s nothing Mr S likes more than a clash between two monumental ministerial egos. And they don’t come much bigger than Ben Wallace, the Forces’ Flashheart, and Johnny Mercer, the veteran thorn in No. 10’s backside. Both men serve in posts at the Ministry of Defence: Wallace as Secretary of State and Mercer in a
It seems the wokest paper in all the west has blundered once again. Last Wednesday the Guardian published a leader column on ‘Labour and antisemitism’ in which the bastion of right-on liberalism opined on the party’s record under Jeremy Corbyn. It opined that: Mr Corbyn has a formidable record fighting against racism and in speaking
