Steerpike

Steerpike

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

Army argy bargy in Commons clash

Things got a little heated in the House of Commons last night after defence secretary Ben Wallace gave short shrift to fellow Tory MP and ex Royal Anglian Regiment reservist Lieutenant Mark Francois. All hell broke loose after a war of words over the Ministry of Defence (MoD) budget blackhole. Scot’s Guard’s own Captain Wallace pointed

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Now FBPE try to cancel Lionel Barber

It has not been a great nine weeks for the European Union. Readers both inside and outside the supranational bloc will have been horrified at the dithering, disinformation and mixed messages of the commission and its national leaders, now considering an export ban to stop vaccine orders to the UK being honoured. The French position on the Oxford jab

Watch: Tory MP slams Beeb’s lack of flags

BBC Director General Tim Davie was grilled today by the Commons public accounts committee and for Tory MP James Wild there was one item top of his agenda: flags. It follows last week’s sniggering incident in which two BBC breakfast presenters appeared to poke fun at Robert Jenrick’s Union Jack. Wild asked Davie: ‘In your own report

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Watch: Labour MP refuses to condemn Bristol violence

Oh dear. Appearing on BBC Two’s Politics Live this afternoon, Labour left winger Nadia Whittome refused to condemn the violent protesters in Bristol last night that left 20 policeman injured including two in a serious condition.  Despite being asked four times by presenter Jo Coburn, Whittome would only say ‘I’m not going to get into condemning

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Express anger over Reach rebrand

Last week reports emerged that the Daily Express is due to drop its famous crusader masthead, in place since the days of Max Beaverbrook and his Empire free trade campaign. The right-wing Express has already dropped its strapline ‘the world’s greatest newspaper’ in 2018, shortly after being bought by Trinity Mirror now renamed as Reach. Reports of

Exclusive: No. 10 comms chief hired by the Sun

Having been appointed as the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesperson way back in February 2017, James Slack has earned himself the reputation of being one of the most trusted operators in Westminster. One of the few old hands to make the transition from Theresa May to Boris Johnson, Slack found himself being shuffled in January to the

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Yours for £66, an official Whitehall flagpole

Flags are suddenly all the rage in British politics, with scarcely a day going by it seems without a fresh row over the Union Jack. First a leaked Labour report last month on how to win back voters was splashed on the front page of the Guardian along with its recommendations that Labour make ‘use of the

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Where’s Nicola Sturgeon?

After being accused last night of misleading the Scottish parliament, Nicola Sturgeon’s daily Covid briefing was high on Mr Steerpike’s watch list today. Alas upon tuning in, viewers were greeted with the sight of Jeane Freeman, the country’s health secretary (under fire for quite different reasons) rather than her embattled party leader. Asked by Sky

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Shock as NYT praises Britain

In recent years Britain has become something of a Bermuda Triangle for the New York Times. Since voting for Brexit in 2016, the UK has become reimagined in the reporting of the Gray Lady’s esteemed reporters. It is a strange, desolate place, where locals huddle round bin fires on the streets of London, gnawing on legs

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France u-turn jab: AZ you were

It has been difficult to keep up with all the the twists and turns of Europe’s vaccine procurement programme these past nine weeks though Mr S has tried his best. Few countries have vacillated on the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine more than France, where last month nearly 1 in 4 said they would not be getting the

David Davis fact checks Sturgeon

Nicola Sturgeon came under fire at First Ministers’ Questions today, with Ruth Davidson interrogating the SNP leader over David Davis’ bombshell on Tuesday night. Davidson asked if, as Davis claimed, a legal document was suppressed by government officials in the course of Mr Salmond’s judicial review in late 2018. Sturgeon replied that by reading out ‘his

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Watch: BBC presenters mock minister’s Union Jack

The BBC is attempting today to break out of its London-centric mindset. The new Director General Tim Davie told BBC staff in a call this morning that the corporation will move 400 jobs out of the capital, and promised to make programmes that are more relevant to people who live outside the M25. Mr S

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Whatever happened to young Keir Starmer?

This week’s Spectator looks at the role Sir Keir Starmer has played in granting the government extraordinary emergency powers to deal with the rise of Covid. The Labour leader appears happy to maintain such restrictions on the right to protest and even tried to bolster his credentials on law and order by backing under fire

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Public Health England’s obesity obsession

Few government agencies have had a worse pandemic than Public Health England (PHE) whose mission is ‘to protect and improve the nation’s health and to address inequalities.’ Criticisms levelled at PHE over the past 12 months include failing to expand diagnostic testing and contact tracing, discouraging the use of face masks, failing to share infection

Is Biden turning on Brussels?

The Joe Biden administration, headed up by a proud son of Ireland, has spent St Patrick’s Day briefing reporters in Washington that it will not be taking a side in the latest Irish border dispute. The new President spoke with the Irish Taoiseach on Wednesday in celebration of the two countries’ history — just as the

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Watch: Nicola Sturgeon’s hostile Covid briefing

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon appeared to be in a poor mood today, after David Davis used parliamentary privilege in the Commons last night to make a series of allegations against the Scottish government over its handling of the Salmond investigation. After the ITV journalist Peter Smith asked Sturgeon about the new allegations at the Scottish