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
Boris Johnson has never been afraid of expressing himself but he might well have regretted his verbosity yesterday when he had a rather awkward encounter at the Nato summit in Madrid. As Johnson sat at the summit table, a tall figure loomed over him and gripped the Prime Minister’s back. Johnson turned around to be
Oh dear. It looks like Pestminster 2.0 is rumbling on. On Thursday, Chris Pincher, the deputy chief whip quit after allegations were reported in the Sun. The newspaper reports that the MP, first elected for Tamworth in 2010, has written to Boris Johnson, claiming that: ‘Last night I drank far too much. I’ve embarrassed myself and
Sir Keir Starmer is very keen these days to prove that Labour can be trusted on defence and foreign policy. Tweets, statements, Union Jacks galore: nothing is too over the top in the party’s efforts to distance itself from its recent Corbynista past. So Mr S was intrigued to see what one of his backbenchers
Liz Truss has been in Madrid this week, talking tough on Taiwan. In the face of continued Chinese aggression, Truss is keen to support the island republic, such as by boosting arms sales there. Yet when pressed this morning on LBC, Truss struggled to add more detail, suggesting that ‘the defence that Taiwan need is
What with Covid, Ukraine and the levelling-up agenda, fiscal probity is somewhat old-fashioned now in Westminster. So it’s unsurprising then that the billion-pound boondoggle of HS2 carries on winding its way through the political process, despite mounting costs and time delays. Having dragged on for more than a dozen years, the, er, high-speed rail project
Oh dear. We all remember Captain Tom, KBE, beloved national icon and centenarian philanthropist. In the depths of Covid, the second world war veteran raised Britain’s spirits with his 100 laps of his back garden to raise oodles of cash for the NHS. But now the charity set up in Moore’s memory could be in
Nicola Sturgeon’s latest independence wheeze might have received a near-universal panning but there’s one organ she can always count on for stellar support: the National. ‘SAVE THE DATE’ screamed its front page today, replete with ten pages of Pyongyang-style praise for the Dear Leader and her latest, brilliant move that will almost certainly fall short
Ah, Matt Hancock: the man who makes Gavin Williamson and his manoeuvrings look subtle. The former Health Secretary marked the anniversary of his fall from grace by going out to bat for the government’s Protocol bill in the Times (hint, hint Bozza). But until he gets recalled to his rightful place in the Cabinet, the West
To Policy Exchange, the chameleon think tank that changes with the seasons. The summer party was well under way by the time Mr S rocked up, with Gavin Williamson and Sajid Javid clutching glasses in the shade of Westminster Abbey. But Pimms and canapés weren’t the only things on the menu tonight, as Rishi Sunak
It’s supposedly illegal to die in the House of Commons, but Simon Case gave it a good try this afternoon. The Cabinet Secretary endured a torrid time before the Public Administration Committee, being grilled on everything from Partygate and public standards to Carrie Johnson and civil service cuts. For 107 minutes, Britain’s top mandarin was
Here we go again then. Nicola Sturgeon has finally anounced her great Scexit wheeze: after years of making claims about another independence referendum, she’s finally announced a timetable at last. Thursday 19 October 2023 is now Scotland’s divinely-ordained date with destiny (according to the First Minister at least) with Sturgeon prepared to use the courts
Parliament is ablaze with gossip and rumour this morning. There’s only one question on anyone’s lips: will any more MPs defect to Labour? Such speculation has been fuelled by something of a collective Fleet Street guessing game: the Sunday Times has predicted that up to six Tories might make the jump while today’s Telegraph merely
Back in February, Mr S pointed out that Steve Baker was on manoeuvres. The ‘Brexit hardman’ is returning to the playbook which won the war over vaccine passports by teaming up with Covid Research Group consultant Ed Barker. It’s part of a planned relaunch next month of the moribund Conservative Way Forward, at a suitably
Oh dear. Is Boris Johnson’s bid to rip up the Northern Ireland Protocol over before it really began? First, Simon Hoare, the chair of the Northern Ireland Select Committee, lobbed a grenade at Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, asking whether her support for the government’s bill was merely ‘a muscle flex for a future leadership bid?’
Speak to any disaffected Tory these days and the conversation quickly turns to one of leadership. Who should be next to wear the Conservative crown? Rishi? Damaged goods. Liz? Always self-promoting. Jeremy Hunt? Come off it. With question marks hanging over each of the main contenders, one name increasingly doing the rounds is that of
They’re the by-elections all of Westminster is talking about. No, not the race for Tiverton and Wakefield in the Commons but the battle to replace two vacant seats in Lords. For, following the retirement of Lord Brabazon of Tara and the death of Lord Swinfen, hereditary peers who take the Tory whip are gearing up
It’s not just Ed Miliband making a comeback under Sir Keir: now the former Labour leader’s biggest fan has signed up to join the Starmer army too. Back in 2015, ‘Milifandom’ briefly swept the internet when it looked like the Doncaster MP could defeat David Cameron in that year’s general election. The cult movement was
Goodbye then, Roe v Wade. The US Supreme Court’s decision this week to overturn its ruling on abortion will effectively ban the practice across swathes of America. Millions of Americans are angry; politicians have been quick to proclaim their shock and dismay. But this is Britain, home to some of Europe’s most liberal abortion laws,
The Conservative party has a rather funereal air about it this morning, following this week’s two bruising by-election losses in Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton, which saw the party get walloped in both the ‘red wall’ north and true blue south. And since the losses it appears that Tory animosity towards the PM has been building
Mick Lynch has become something of a break-out star since his round of media interviews on Tuesday. The boss of the Rail and Maritime Transport union has won many fans on the left for his uncompromising views on the industrial action which brought chaos across the country this week. But it seems that, for all
