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
The Prime Minister has never been much of a football fan. Unlike David Cameron, who could never remember if he supported Aston Villa or West Ham, Boris Johnson has remained resolutely ambivalent on the subject of personal preferences by opting to choose, err, no side in the English Football League. Tonight Johnson showed his patriotic
Since her election to Parliament in December 2019, Labour backbencher Kate Osborne has become something of a transparency campaigner. The Jarrow MP has urged the extension of Freedom of Information laws to cover private companies and criticised Conservative opponent Nadine Dorries for sharing ‘fake news propaganda’ online. But Osborne seems less keen to divulge information
It appears the Liberal Democrats have fallen foul of the Trade Descriptions Act. During the Brexit years, the party did its best to eschew the ‘democratic’ part of their name by promising to nullify the largest democratic mandate the UK has ever seen. And now Mr Steerpike is intrigued to see that party grandees don’t seem too keen
A heart-warming moment at the first day of Wimbledon today. In the crowd to watch matches on centre court was Professor Sarah Gilbert who developed the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine for coronavirus. Having spent much of 2020 working on finding a jab, the scientist was today enjoying a rare day out, having been appointed a Dame in the Birthday Honours earlier this month for
One man’s loss is another man’s gain. Matt Hancock’s downfall has meant the return of Sajid Javid, restored to Cabinet sixteen months after his resignation in a Downing Street power struggle. Javid wasted no time in taking to the airwaves yesterday, paying the obligatory tribute to his disgraced predecessor and telling broadcasters: ‘We are still in a
Efforts to rid Huawei from Britain’s 5G mobile network were a constant feature of Tory politics last year. The question of whether a company with links to the Chinese state should be involved in such sensitive infrastructure dominated much of 2020, culminating in Oliver Dowden’s announcement in November of a ban on Huawei in 5G networks. It followed a long-running campaign by
A belated effort is underway to salvage the remains of Matt Hancock’s reputation. The latest line, repeated by a dutiful Brandon Lewis on Sky this morning, is that the former Health Secretary quit for the good of the country – which begs the question as to why he waited 48 hours after the news broke
Sixth time’s the charm for Sajid Javid who takes up the health brief following Matt Hancock’s resignation. Javid, who has previously run the housing, business, culture, Treasury and home affairs departments, resigned from Boris Johnson’s government in February last year, following a power struggle with No. 10. The former Deutsche Bank executive quit after being
Whereas once ministers were content to resign with merely an exchange of letters, the tech-savvy Matt Hancock always preferred to be a pioneer. The Health Secretary quit tonight after two days of mounting outrage at the revelations he had a fling with a taxpayer-funded aide he brought into government and did so in classic Hancock
So much for No. 10 considering the ‘case closed.’ Matt Hancock has resigned tonight after 48 hours of fury at his fling with his taxpayer funded aide and Oxford contemporary Gina Coladangelo. The Health Secretary decided just hours before the Sunday papers dropped to go, with Mr S understanding further revelations were on the way.
Regular readers may recall the tale of James Dornan, SNP MSP and amateur Hate-Finder General. Earlier this month, he gave a speech in the Scottish Parliament taking aim at Lothian Buses, one of Edinburgh’s main commuter services and a target of long-running antisocial behaviour. The company’s drivers recorded more than 500 such incidents in the
These days it’s easier to work out who is leaving Keir Starmer’s team than who is still in it. Ahead of the Batley and Spen by-election next Thursday, there have been a series of moves and departures – from one-time political secretary Jenny Chapman’s demotion to a raft of departures in the comms team. After Labour’s
Boris Johnson may consider the ‘case closed’ but what does the public think of Matt Hancock’s fling? For 15 months the embattled Health Secretary has been the face of the government’s Covid policies, appearing at dozens of press briefings and being one of the most ardent lockdown proponents in Whitehall. Given his countless interviews, statements,
There’s only one story doing the rounds on SW1 WhatsApp chats this morning: the photographs in today’s Sun of the married health secretary in a clinch with a senior taxpayer-funded aide. Matt Hancock caused headlines last November after bringing lobbyist Gina Coladangelo – his friend from Oxford university – into government as a non-executive director for the department
Oh dear. Back in March, Mumford & Sons banjoist Winston Marshall landed himself in hot water after praising a book by conservative American journalist Andy Ngo. Following the publication of Unmasked – Ngo’s recent critique of the antifa movement – Marshall tweeted his praise, declaring: ‘Finally had the time to read your important book. You’re a brave man.’ The subsequent backlash
Journalist, banker, academic, think tanker and now culture vulture — is there nothing to which George Osborne cannot turn his hand? The former chancellor has today been appointed the chair of the board of trustees of the British Museum — an institution that incidentally was spared from the 20 per cent cut he forced on
Oh dear. While all eyes in Westminster were on the dispatch boxes at Prime Minister’s Questions today, it appears an unsightly scuffle was going on just out of sight. Joanna Cherry, the onetime SNP darling sacked from her party’s front bench in February, has accused the Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey of ‘unacceptable behaviour.’
It is five years today since the EU referendum. Despite David Cameron’s psephological guru Andrew Cooper predicting a ten point win for In on polling day, we all know what happened next as the Vote Leave team of Boris and Cummings trumped the Britain Stronger in Europe’s brigade of Craig Oliver, Will Straw et al. The
Few institutions are as treasured in the Palace of Westminster as the parliamentary choir – though perhaps the terrace canteen’s jerk chicken recipe runs it close. The choir is arguably the best embodiment of the cross-party spirit, in which Tory MPs, Labour peers and House staff members can all sing alongside one another. Or as the choir’s
After last year’s A-level results day debacle and the ongoing saga about catch-up funding, Gavin Williamson is one of the bookies’ favourites for the Cabinet chop. The incumbent education secretary has suffered some brutal headlines in the last 12 months and appears to have stumbled on the culture wars as his best bet for ministerial
