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
Away from the Truss/Sunak ding-dong, another long-running drama has come to an end. Barrister Allison Bailey, a friend of JK Rowling, has today won her discrimination case against Garden Court Chambers. An employment tribunal unanimously found that Bailey, a barrister, lesbian, prominent gender critical campaigner and founding member of LGB Alliance, was discriminated against and
Boris Johnson’s imminent departure has been greeted with enthusiasm by all the usual suspects: millionaire celebs, Labour MPs, Tory wets and of course Dominic Cummings. But for one group of sworn Boris-bashers, the departure of their mortal foe offers a useful call to arms: unrepentant Remainers. Perusing the popular ‘Work 4 MP’ jobs site this
Labour might be keen to portray themselves as a government-in-waiting but today’s rail strikes show the problems that still remain. Sir Keir Starmer told his party’s MPs that they should not join the industrial action by the RMT yet his shadow transport spokesman Sam Tarry has directly defied his orders to do a round of
Ah, HSBC. The Asian banking giant has raised some eyebrows in recent years with their endless antics to appear oh so right-on. Back in 2019, they ran a series of adverts proclaiming that ‘we are not an island’, ignoring the fact that, er, we very much are. More recently they’ve rushed to associate themselves with
The last few months have been a godsend for the Labour party. Ten points ahead in the polls, with the Tories mired in the sleaze, its members now get to watch Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss slug it out all summer. Not for nothing then has Sir Keir Starmer sought to grasp the mantle of
When it comes to bullying allegations, Meghan Markle is well versed. But in Tom Bower’s latest book, Revenge, the claims are so damning that even Steerpike was gobsmacked. Reducing a royal aide to tears is one thing, but investigative journalist Bower now claims that Markle’s wrath knows no limits. Meghan reportedly picked on Princess Charlotte, who
Well, that was fun. For an hour tonight Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss danced across a smorgasbord of political issues while the BBC’s Chris Mason and Sophie Raworth demanded to know about a Boris Johnson comeback and, er, Claire’s Accessories. There was, as usual, more heat than light but Truss’s praise for Sunak’s alma mater
Faced with the choice of Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss, some Tories are experiencing something close to sellers’ remorse. Was Boris so bad, they wonder, as they compare the blonde bombshell’s proven qualities to his untested would-be replacements? Now some have taken that a step further and demanded that a secondary question be added to
Migration was the dominant theme of the weekend as the two Tory leadership contenders set out how they will resolve the small boats crisis. Both Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss have pledged to retain Boris Johnson’s Rwanda scheme, even though Kigali claims to, er, only have a capacity for a maximum of 200 migrants from
It’s six weeks to go until voting closes for the Tory leadership and polls suggest that Liz Truss is the firm favourite of the party grassroots – on a two-to-one ratio. Rishi Sunak has to do all he can to make up lost ground, something that has likely motivated the former Chancellor to accept a
It’s getting a bit dirty in the Tory leadership race now. Over the weekend, briefings heated up between the Sunak and Truss camps. Both accused each other of being ‘soft’ on China; the former’s introduction of free ports has been attacked by the latter while Sunak’s schooling has also come under fire from allies of
‘Hasta la vista, baby’ Boris Johnson told the Commons at his final PMQs. But could the fallen leader be seeking inspiration from another Schwarzenegger quote: ‘I’ll be back’? There’s been much excited talk in recent days about whether Johnson could ever make a comeback, with some supporters fearing that the Privileges Committee investigation is an
Most Tories are focusing on the leadership race but for some there are other concerns. Take the five MPs who last year were sanctioned by the Chinese state. Tom Tugendhat, Neil O’Brien, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Nusrat Ghani and Tim Loughton were among a group of nine UK citizens to face sanctions in March for
It’s a tough time for struggling families across the country. Inflation, price increases, a cost-of-living crisis and taxes going up. But one place where belts are remaining decidedly un-tightened is the editor’s office at the Guardian, where champagne corks have been popping at the latest company accounts. For Katharine Viner– the editor-in-chief of the progressive periodical
With two years to go until the next election, constituency battles are well underway across the country. Labour candidates are scrapping it out with one another for selection in winnable seats, with one such case being Chingford and Woodford Green. This London seat was just 1,263 votes off going red last time, with the added
The One Nation brigade were out in force last night and Tom Tugendhat was the talk of the town. He may not have not made it into the final two but the former leadership contender received a hero’s welcome at summer receptions for both the Tory Reform Group and Conservatives in Communications. Flanked by a
It’s been a bit of a bad week for the British Museum. High temperatures forced staff to close the site early on Monday and Tuesday, damaging revenue flow and prompting renewed criticism of its BP sponsorship deal. Then today Sadiq Khan – the museum’s own local mayor – called on the government to find a way of
It’s been a bruising week for Penny Mordaunt. Six days ago she was the favourite to be Prime Minister; now she’s out of the running after a series of searing criticisms from colleagues and the press. A repeated line of attack she faced was the suggestion that she wasn’t entirely across her brief, with Lord
You’re the American president on a visit to former coal plant in Massachusetts. You’re ostensibly there to deliver remarks about climate change. You’re facing criticisms for being out-of-touch, rambling and gaffe-prone. So what do you decide to do? Start suggesting you’ve got cancer in front of the world’s press! An implausible-sounding scenario perhaps but that’s exactly
Oh dear. It seems that the Mordaunt camp has done it again. Just hours after suggesting that Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss would ‘murder’ the Tory party if they were elected, another suspect #PM4PM tweet has been doing the rounds. It’s about the Trade minister’s ability to win a general election, citing a YouGov poll
