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
To the Commons, where last night the cream of Westminster’s literary elite were sipping chablis and comparing book sales. Rising stars and old faces were among those turning out at the parliamentary book awards as Ed Balls, Mark Carney, Jess Phillips and Andrew Mitchell were among the political giants rubbing shoulders. The star of the night though was
Laura Kuenssberg leaves her post at the end of this month, with the incumbent BBC political editor receiving a suitable send-off from her female lobby colleagues last night. After nearly seven years in the post, Kuenssberg will step down from the biggest job in political journalism on 31 March. But can anyone fill her shoes?
Fresh from apologising for the persecution of witches in the sixteenth century, Nicola Sturgeon has now jumped on to the next big challenge. You’d have thought the energy, cost-of-living and health crises might keep the First Minister occupied, not to mention the various issues around Scotland’s schools, transport links and criminal justice system. Not a bit of it. For
Sanctions, boycotts, bans, penalties of all kind: there’s no end to the punishments being slapped on Moscow. But amid the frantic rush of institutions and individuals to distance themselves from Russia, some seem to be somewhat overstepping the mark. The Cardiff Philharmonic has today cancelled an all-Tchaikovsky programme as ‘inappropriate at this time’; Russian conductor Valery Gergiev
It’s been a pretty dreadful few weeks for Vadym Prystaiko. Kiev’s man in London has been doing his best to secure extra resources for his country’s struggle against the Russian invasion, though the calls of President Zelensky for a ‘no fly zone’ have gone unheeded. As if he didn’t have enough on his plate, Prystaiko has been summoned
The verdict is in and it’s not good for John Bercow. Yesterday finally saw the publication of the independent expert panel report into his behaviour as Commons Speaker, with 21 separate allegations of bullying being upheld against the former Buckingham MP. The conclusions of the report were damning: Bercow was judged to be a ‘serial bully’ and
Happy International Women’s Day! To mark this auspicious occasion, the Radio 4 programme Woman’s Hour today hosted a conversation between presenter Emma Barnett, former Home Secretary Amber Rudd and the Labour shadow minister for women and equalities, Anneliese Dodds. Unfortunately, amid all the amicable chatter about why Dodds’ post does not have a full-time dedicated
At long last, the bullying report into John Bercow is out. After two years of claims and counter-claims, an independent panel has delivered its findings after Bercow appealed against the initial report by Kathryn Stone, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. Mr S has been slowly making his way through the brutal 89-page review alongside Bercow’s 87-page
Well that’s that then. This morning’s report by the Independent Expert Panel into John Bercow’s behaviour makes for damning reading for the former Commons Speaker. It finds him guilty of bullying House of Commons staff and has banned him for life from holding a parliamentary pass for former members. The move effectively kills his chances of
Away from the scenes in eastern Europe, a very different terf war was playing out on Twitter yesterday between JK Rowling and former New Statesman journalist Laurie Penny. The latter is a consistent and very public critic of Rowling’s views on sex and gender, having previously suggested the Harry Potter author is a transphobe for whom the
It’s groundhog day up in Scotland as once more the SNP have found a reason to suggest why their desperately-needed, long-overdue second independence referendum… might have to be delayed again. For, despite a pliant press, a captive state and 15 years in power, the tartan nationalists are still unable to breach the magic figure of
The cost-of-living crisis has begun to bite but lucky MPs will be (partly) protected from the pinch. Their salaries are set to be hiked next month by £2,200 from £81,932 to £84,144 a year, following a review by IPSA, the independent watchdog established in the wake of the expenses scandal. The hike is set to coincide with energy
With her many Instagram snaps, personal videographer and army of special advisers, Liz Truss knows a thing or two about spin. But now it seems the Foreign Secretary has applied her love of brand management to the department she runs too. The invasion of Ukraine last month was preceded and met with a bombardment of
It appears David Lammy isn’t the only MP building a lucrative media career. Turning on GB News yesterday, Mr S enjoyed seeing not one but two Tory backbenchers presenting a show together: Esther McVey and her husband Philip Davies. The pair are very much the Beyonce and Jay Z of the Commons, having enjoyed parliamentary freebies
Oh Sadiq Khan. The mayor of London was swept to office back in 2016 on a wave of Labour optimism about their plans for the great metropolis. One of his main pledges was for ‘zero days of strikes’ as ‘every day there’s a strike, it causes huge misery and inconvenience to Londoners.’ Khan claimed, prior to
The Ukraine crisis has claimed another victim. The Westminster Russia Forum – previously called the Conservative Friends of Russia – has just announced it will be winding up its lobbying operation here in London. As recently as last week, the group were reported to be going ahead with a ‘multilateral relations conference’, scheduled for tomorrow. But now,
After surviving his Covid scare in spring 2020, Boris Johnson was positively evangelical about the importance of weight loss. Launching a campaign to cut Britain’s obesity rates in July that year, the Prime Minister told the country that he was ‘way overweight’ when he was hospitalised, backing a war on waistlines to cut the number
It’s now a week since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and there’s no sign of an end in sight yet. The casualty lists have mounted on both sides, with the Kremlin admitting to 500 Russian dead, compared to America’s estimate of 2,000 on Moscow’s side. One millions Ukrainians meanwhile are estimated to have fled the country in the
Sir Geoffrey Cox was thrust once more into the limelight just before Christmas, after the Owen Paterson row brought the issue of MPs’ second jobs to the fore. Newspapers were agog at the former Attorney-General’s earnings, regaling their readers with endless zeros and pound signs galore. The Daily Mail splashed the news that the baritone barrister earned £1 million
Another day and still Ukraine holds on. Russia last night stepped up its attacks on key target cities, with fighting raging for a seventh day in the north, east and south of the country. It was in those sombre circumstances that MPs in London met today for the ritual weekly jousting of Prime Ministers’ Questions. But