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
A most undiplomatic row has engulfed one of Westminster’s most prestigious groups. The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association boasts 180 branches around the world, with the late Queen Elizabeth among its former patrons, with former Cabinet minister Maria Miller now serving as its chair. But among those upcoming speakers due to address it in London include two
Rod Stewart has been a Conservative supporter for some time – but no longer. The ageing rocker, who congratulated Boris Johnson after his landslide election win in 2019, says it is time for the party to move over and give Labour a turn. ‘This is a bad time for us in Great Britain – change
Oh dear. It seems that the world’s wokest newspaper is in a bit of a mess of its own making. Stung by criticism of its historic slave trade links and support for the Confederacy in 2020, the Guardian resolved to create an editorial project on its past. This included an upcoming podcast about the connections
If Sadiq Khan has his way, drivers of old cars will soon be stumping up £12.50 every time they get behind the wheel in London. Much to the outrage of Londoners, the Labour mayor has grand plans to expand the Ultra Low Emission Zone across the whole city in several months’ time. But for plumbers and window cleaners worried about how the daily
The Starmer army are doing all the Very Serious things necessary to convince the commentariat that they’re Ready For Office. Whether it’s fiscally credible policies, schmoozing at Davos or the reassuring sight of ‘boring, snoring’ Rachel Reeves, the party are straining every sinew to depict themselves as responsible realists. The left is on the run
Once, the Civil Service was viewed as the omniscient, omnipotent embodiment of the Establishment: a mandarin class par excellence. Sir Humphrey Appleby and his real-life equivalents could run rings round their ministers, rule their Whitehall dominions unencumbered and command fear and respect from their underlings. Those halcyon days now seem like a distant memory. In
Another day, another sleaze scandal threatening to engulf one of Westminster’s finest. Labour frontbencher Alex Davies-Jones is being investigated over allegations she breached lobbying rules and thus the MPs’ code of conduct too. New Commissioner for Standards Daniel Greenberg, who has been in the job a mere matter of weeks, opened an investigation into the
All rise! Just over three years after quitting parliament, Jared O’Mara now finds himself in court rather than the Commons. The former Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam stands accused of making fake expense claims during his time in Westminster to fund a ‘significant cocaine habit’. On the first day of his trial at Leeds crown court,
It’s a new day and once again the news is dominated by Nadhim Zahawi’s tax affairs. Rishi Sunak has asked his independent ethics advisor (all politicians need outside advice when it comes to ethics, after all) to launch an investigation into Zahawi after the Tory chairman admitted making a ‘careless and not deliberate’ tax error.
As the Conservatives face another round of allegations of Tory sleaze, Labour is doing what it does best: having an internal row about trans rights. After Labour MP Rosie Duffield found herself heckled by her own side for speaking out on her concerns over the SNP”s Scottish gender recognition bill, she penned an article likening
Oh no. Those who had argued Rishi Sunak would spell a new era of Tory calm appear to have been mistaken. This weekend there are fresh reports of scandal during Boris Johnson’s time as prime minister. The Sunday Times reports today that when Sharp was in the final stages of going for the BBC chairmanship
Oh dear, things are not exactly going well for the Tory party this weekend, with the government now facing potential scandals on two separate fronts. Yesterday, the chairman of the Tory party Nadhim Zahawi was forced to concede that HMRC had found that he had made ‘careless and not deliberate’ errors over his tax affairs
Ah, the World Economic Forum: that annual jamboree for plutocratic banksters, avaricious industrialists and superannuated spongers to come together in an orgiastic eulogy to global capital. Sir Keir Starmer is among those in Davos this week as part of the party’s latest enterprise initiative. For where better place for a Labour leader to demonstrate his
To the battalions! Yet another Tory row is unfolding, this time over the thorny issue of funds for deprived communities. ‘Levelling-up cash favours south east over red wall’ roars the headline of today’s Times. Inside are anonymous Conservatives aplenty, full of righteous anger and indignant quotes. Tuesday saw the announcement of the second round of cash payments
Lloyd Russell-Moyle is no stranger to controversy. The Labour MP previously said sorry to JK Rowling after accusing her of using her own sexual assault as ‘justification’ for her views on trans people. Back when Jeremy Corbyn was Labour leader, the Brighton MP said those who quit the party were ‘scabs’. This week, Russell-Moyle has been busy in
You probably hadn’t heard of Susan Jebb until today. For 18 months she has served in happy obscurity as the head of the Food Standards Agency. Until, that is, she decided to give an interview in which she suggested bringing cake into the office should be seen as harmful to your colleagues in the same
Oh dear. It seems that Welsh Labour are at it again. Running Cardiff Bay ought to be the easiest job in politics: bash the Tories, soft soap the nationalists and wrap yourself in the Y Ddraig Goch. But some of its representatives in the Senedd can’t even get that right. For Steerpike hears that Julie Morgan,
It’s a busy time for ex-Prime Ministers. Theresa May has been totting up her thousands in speaking fees while Boris Johnson has been unveiling his portrait, trailing his memoir and generally making mischief for Rishi Sunak. And amid much speculation about the future projects of Liz Truss, Mr S can reveal that Britain’s shortest-serving PM
Just what is it about ‘kinder, gentler politics’ that brings out the worst in our politicians? This afternoon’s ministerial state on the Westminster government’s decision to block the Gender Recognition Reform Bill has appeared, at times, to be little more than a race to the bottom. First, there was the jeering and sneering which greeted
Oh dear. It seems that not all in the Labour party share their leader’s professed scepticism of Scotland’s new Gender Recognition Reform Bill. This afternoon, Rosie Duffield rose in the Commons to support Scottish secretary Alister Jack’s decision to block the new legislation. But she had barely started speaking before the jeers rang out across