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
It seems Michel Barnier has undergone something of a transformation in recent months. Gone is the starry-eyed Eurocrat who decried the ‘cherry picking’ of Perfidious Albion and insisted that ‘the single market and its four freedoms are indivisible’. In his place stands the defender of national sovereignty, a patriotic champion of French self-interest against Big Brussels.
Few issues divide the Guardian’s right-on journalists more than transgender rights. Back in November its longtime columnist Suzanne Moore was purged after an internal denunciation about her writings on the subject; in July its (current) columnist Owen Jones took aim at sister paper the Observer for a leader in support of free speech. Plenty of gossip is doing
Gavin Williamson has been widely mocked after mixing up footballer Marcus Rashford and rugby player Maro Itoje. But Alastair Campbell’s bid to get in on the joke appears to have backfired in rather spectacular fashion. The New Labour spinner – who now spends his time rallying against Brexit – shared a picture of two black waiters alongside
It’s been a very good year for Serco. The British outsourcing company which runs the Test and Trace service is making some £50 million a month, according to an answer given this week by health minister Jo Churchill. Serco declared in June a 50 per cent jump in profits based off its work on various government contracts. Revenues
In recent years Steerpike has grown accustomed to watching car-crash interviews of Gavin Williamson. Whether it’s refusing to reveal his A-level results or declaring he wants to shut all schools, the under fire Education Secretary rarely misses a chance to channel his inner Alan Partridge. But now it seems the minister has decided to cross
Westminster is ablaze with rumours about a long-awaited government reshuffle. Half the lobby think it’s happening; half of them insist it’s not. Scraps of information are compared and scrutinised in pubs and bars across Whitehall; Whatsapps blaze with talk of three line whips and special advisers cancelling leave. One thing’s for certain: tomorrow will be
It’s Groundhog Day in Holyrood. Amid criticisms about her administration’s underwhelming ‘Programme for Government,’ Nicola Sturgeon has returned to her favourite hobby house: Scottish independence. Much like ABBA’s reunion, the First Minister combined some new tunes with her greatest hits, declaring that May’s election was an ‘undeniable’ mandate for such a plebiscite by the end of 2023
Boris Johnson may be focusing on the NHS backlog but for some of his parliamentary colleagues there’s another logjam to be addressed: an excess of invites to belated summer shindigs. Among the various soirees flying around, one caught Steerpike’s eye: the All Party Parliamentary Group on China’s reception next Wednesday on the Commons terrace pavilion.
It was less than a fortnight ago that Steerpike wrote of Australia’s various missteps in its long fight with Covid. Since then, the (not so) Lucky Country has introduced a smorgasbord of extra restrictions to add to its various rules and regulations already in place, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison himself admitting that ‘this is not a sustainable way
Oh dear. Longtime readers will recall that it was just three years ago that the Conservative conference app was revealed to have a major security flaw. The private data of senior party members – including cabinet ministers – was accessible to anyone that logged in as that particular conference attendee, with the phone numbers of Boris
For much of its 58-year long existence, the scientists who sat on the government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) lived a life of happy obscurity. But now the poor men and women who make up its membership have been thrust into the limelight amid furious Whitehall rows over whether 12 to 15 year-olds should be
Covid has meant it’s been a tough old year for the charity sector – but few have had it worse than Stonewall. Accused of misrepresenting the law, pilloried by its co-founder Matthew Parris and facing an exodus of Whitehall departments from its diversity scheme, the LGBT rights organisation has few allies left. Now even Sir
It’s been a busy year for the National Trust. The charity, which boasts more than five million members, has rarely been out of the headlines amid criticisms of its restructuring programme and controversial report on properties with links to colonialism. And now a fresh fight looms over hunting ahead of next month’s annual general meeting. A
Like the end of school holidays, Steerpike suspects MPs will be greeting the end of summer recess with mix feelings. New masters, new subjects and frequents tests of one kind or another – all beckon with Parliament’s return tomorrow. Amid frenzied talk of reshuffles, a punishing timetable will no doubt be leaving some Tories full of
One of the points of discussion which dominated British politics in the Brexit era was the possibility of the formation of an ‘EU army’. During the referendum campaign and for years afterwards, Remainers and ‘People’s Vote’ campaigners repeatedly claimed that there was no serious chance of establishing an EU army because the upper echelons of
Oh dear. Not content with swelling the Scottish government to an eye-watering 29 ministers in a parliament of 129, it seems the SNP now wish to emulate Beijing’s over-mighty executive in other ways. Economist Mark Blyth, who was appointed less than two months ago to the Scottish government’s much-trumpeted economic council, has suggested that China’s controversial
This morning Playbook has revealed details about the plans – codenamed Operation London Bridge – for the sad day when the Queen passes away. But while the outlet’s excellent write-up reveals much about the preparations involved for Her Majesty’s death, Steerpike noted that one detail about the behind the scenes work was somewhat glossed over: advanced
Ben Wallace’s week goes from bad to worse. Amid continuing criticisms of the botched evacuation from Afghanistan, news reaches Steerpike that talks have begun about making the story of Operation Ark into a Hollywood film. It was said that the story of Penn Farthing’s evacuation of his animal sanctuary from Kabul had every thing: drama,
Boris, Dave and George: three men whose fates have long been intwined. Elected on the same day, they rose rapidly through the ranks together before their fateful fall out over the Brexit referendum. Cameron’s memoirs subsequently criticised Johnson for opportunism; Osborne has delivered his own jibes via Evening Standard leader columns and infrequent interviews. But
Misquotes are all too common in British politics. Whether it’s Thatcher and ‘no such thing as society’ or Callaghan with ‘Crisis? What crisis?’ too often a lie can be halfway round the world before the truth has got its boots on – as Churchill, err, didn’t say. But one hope would hope for better standards from the