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
Back to school for Gillian Keegan. It seems that the Education Secretary hasn’t learnt her lines properly, judging by her performance on this morning’s media round. The Chichester MP appeared on Sky’s breakfast show today, follows last night’s news that the Westminster government will block Holyrood’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill. Keegan was invited by Kay
Crisis! Outrage! Fury! It’s all kicking off in Scotland today, with much nationalist self-righteous anger at the impertinence, nay the audacity, of a Tory government daring to object to a law passed by Holyrood. Why, it’s nothing less than a fundamental breach of the founding principles of the Scotland Act on which the parliament was
Ping! An email pops up in Steerpike’s inbox. ‘Boris Johnson’s memoir acquired by HarperCollins’ roars the subject line, heralding the arrival of an effusive press release to mark the exciting news. Not content with earning £250,000 per speech and unveiling portraits of himself, it seems our former PM has decided that the time is now
Welcome to the Terf wars. There’s just two days ago until the deadline when Rishi Sunak has to decide whether or not to block Nicola Sturgeon’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill. The legislation was passed last month by a majority at Holyrood of 86 to 39 votes and made it easier for people as young as
Ah, the New York Times. For years now, the world’s worst newspaper has painted a grim picture of Britain as a quasi-dictatorial kingdom. It’s a country drowning in ‘imperial nostalgia’, where locals huddle round bin fires on the streets of the great metropolis, gnawing on legs of mutton and cavorting in swamps. Our late Queen ‘helped obscure a bloody history
There’s a spectre haunting Westminster: the spectre of Neil Parish. The former Tiverton MP spent twelve years in parliament in happy backbench obscurity. Until, that is, he became the new poster boy of Tory sleaze last April when he admitted watching pornography twice in the Palace of Westminster. Parish first tried to brazen it out,
It may be winter but Sir Keir is already sporting flip flops. The Labour leader’s appearance on Laura Kuenssberg’s show this morning was the best advert for voting Tory seen in recent months, with Starmer unable to give basic answers to simple questions. Having broken most of the ten pledges on which he was elected
Nowadays, MPs’ expenses claims are vetted by IPSA to ensure that the spectre of duck houses and flipped mortgages don’t darken Westminster once more. But occasionally the odd claim or two gets approved which seems, er, somewhat incongruous: Zarah Sultana’s ring light and Angela Rayner’s personalised airpods are just two of the more examples. And,
Welfare reform is back in Westminster, with both Labour and the Tories now seeking solutions to deal with the 5.2 million on out-of-work benefits – a figure which The Spectator was first to pick up on. The Times today splashed on possible government proposals with Labour’s Jon Ashworth now accusing his opposite number Mel Stride of ‘stealing’ his
Angela Rayner hasn’t always had the best of relationships with Fleet Street’s finest. But there was no sign of discord tonight when she charmed the cream of the parliamentary press gallery at the women’s lobby drinks. The Labour deputy leader remarked how ‘I came in [to parliament] in 2015 when the wheels fell off politics,
Four Chancellors, three Prime Ministers, two monarchs and one mini-Budget: it’s fair to say 2022 was a crazy year in politics and for the Tories in particular. And at least one Conservative MP has admitted publicly what many of his colleagues are saying privately about their party’s prospects at the next election. Jerome Mayhew, the
It’s the first Prime Minister’s Questions of the year today and No. 10 is keen to get off to a good start. So it is perhaps no surprise then that party officials have quickly moved to strip Andrew Bridgen of the Tory whip three hours after an offensive tweet. The North West Leicestershire MP has
To the Carlton Club, that Palladian monument to power. Last night it hosted the unveiling of Boris Johnson’s new portrait, at a lavish dinner featuring the former premier as a guest of honour. The Carlton hasn’t always been the happiest of places for Johnson: it was here last summer that ‘Pinchergate’ began, resulting in the
Much was made of Amy Lamé’s appointment as London’s first ‘night czar’ back in November 2016. The then newly elected Mayor Sadiq Khan trumpeted that she would be a ‘much-needed ambassador for the city after dark… a fantastic hire who will give a big boost to our city’s flourishing nightlife’ with a ‘proven track-record of
It seems that Grant Shapps’ day has just gone from bad to worse. Having cursed the Virgin Orbit mission by declaring that ‘tonight all eyes are on the United Kingdom’ an hour before, er, it failed, the Business Secretary has become embroiled in a Twitter row about photoshop. Shapps is, famously, a keen user of
Is there something in the Westminster air? This morning the Times reports that Claire Perry O’Neill– the Conservative MP for Devizes from 2010 to 2019 – has quit the party and lavished praise on Sir Keir Starmer. In an article she praised the Labour leader’s ‘sober, fact-driven, competent political leadership’ and warned that Rishi Sunak
Gifts, earnings and outside interests: all are in the news this week thanks to an interactive tracker unveiled by Sky News and Tortoise. One of the headline revelations is that Theresa May earned £107,600 speech for a speech she delivered in Saudi Arabia in November – a country she blocked ministers and officials from visiting temporarily while she
What, if anything, will survive of Liz Truss’s legacy? Last week it was her childcare review that was dropped by ministers. And now, the Foreign Office (FCDO) has reversed her decision to end the department’s funding for the the Great Britain China Centre (GBBC), an executive public body established to support UK-China relations. Just seven
It’s a tricky time for Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves. They’re well ahead in the polls but have little to say on strikes: bankrolled by the unions, they are nevertheless unable to support the cause because of their remorseless mission to prove their political credibility. They need to look sober, sane and sensible: wild spending
One of the more surprising moments in Sunday night’s ITV interview was when Prince Harry sought to defend Lady Susan Hussey, the late Queen’s former lady-in-waiting accused of racism. ‘Meghan and I love Susan Hussey,’ declared Harry, ‘[Meghan] thinks she’s great. And I also know that what she meant, she never meant any harm at