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
‘Lunch?’ growled Gordon Gekko in Wall Street. ‘Lunch is for wimps.’ Yet for half of Westminster the noble art of lunching is as much a part of political life as PMQs. For generations, hacks, flacks and MPs of all sides have wined and dined in various London establishments. Whether it is the pubs of SW1
They do say you shouldn’t take anything for granted and it seems Peter Mandelson is beginning to realise that too. He may have thought that his new appointment as UK ambassador to the US was set in stone – but it has emerged that the president-elect is considering, um, rejecting Sir Keir Starmer’s nominee. Ouch.
Hapless Humza Yousaf has a lot more time on his hands after he was forced to quit as Scotland’s First Minister last year. Now it transpires that the former FM has enjoyed a sit down – and photoshoot – with Grazia Pakistan’s Beauty Editor to recount his brief stint in the top job. After his
No one expected this day to come – but here we are. Alastair Campbell, former Labour spinner and full-time Tony Blair fanboy, has – possibly for the first time ever – admitted his ex-boss and forever idol did actually get something wrong. Talk about a curveball! Speaking on the latest episode of his podcast with
Well, well, well. Britain’s grooming gangs scandal is still dominating the headlines and pressure is piling on the Labour government to conduct a probe into matter. The Tories and Reform UK are adamant there should be a national government-led inquiry, while Twitter CEO Elon Musk has persistently taken aim online at Starmer’s army over the
In her first big speech of the year, Kemi Badenoch has taken a pop at Chancellor Rachel Reeves, reiterated her calls for a national inquiry into the grooming gang scandal and hit out at Britain’s immigration figures. Mr S was rather interested, however, in what the Tory leader said about Reform UK. Speaking in London
Well, well, well. President-elect Donald Trump may have snubbed Sir Keir Starmer and missed off the new US ambassador Peter Mandelson when he was sending out his inauguration invites but there is one Labour figure who has been deemed privileged enough to make the cut. Steerpike can reveal that Lord Maurice Glasman is currently making
To the curious case of Mike Amesbury, the former Labour MP who was caught on camera in some rather shocking footage last year. The politician was charged in November and has now pleaded guilty to assault during his appearance in Chester Magistrates Court this morning – after he punched a man in Frodsham last year.
Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay has barely been in the job four months and already his party is facing defections. Mr S can reveal today that Glasgow councillor – and the Scottish Conservative’s leader on Glasgow City Council – Thomas Kerr has jumped ship to Nigel Farage’s party to represent Reform UK on Glasgow City
The Labour government is generating its fair share of negative headlines these days – and now the focus is on the new Attorney General, Lord Hermer. As Mr S pointed out in summer, Sir Keir Starmer’s appointee has held some rather, er, interesting roles in the past – including representing ex-Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams
For a moment, it almost seemed like there was an outbreak of sense at the New York Times, with a column entitled ‘Dry January Is Driving Me to Drink’ . The piece, by Tressie McMillan Cottom, an NYT columnist for the past three years, ‘known for her incisive essays on social problems’, begins by insisting that she is
All is not well in the Labour party. While Sir Keir Starmer’s government fends off questions about the state of the economy and its worsening poll performance, things aren’t looking much better north of the border. New Scottish voting data has dropped this morning – and Anas Sarwar’s Scottish Labour lot have much to be
Uh oh. Labour’s first six months in government haven’t gone quite as swimmingly as Sir Keir Starmer might have hoped and poll after poll has reflected the growing dissatisfaction with the incumbent government. The latest data dump– by pollsters More in Common – now reveals that the Conservatives are leading Labour by a point, with
The new year is off to a bad start for Kemi Badenoch’s Tories. The latest update to The Spectator data hub’s poll tracker shows that – on average – Reform have just overtaken the Conservatives to become the second-placed party in British politics. As Steerpike reported this morning, YouGov’s first Westminster voting intention poll since
And now we have it: Tulip Siddiq has resigned from her government post as City minister after pressure piled on the Labour MP over her links to her aunt and former authoritarian premier of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina. After a tumultuous few weeks, the government’s ethics adviser issued his conclusion about Siddiq’s conduct – leading the
Sir Keir Starmer’s army were adamant that theirs would be a ‘serious’ government of ‘grown ups’ – and yet it seems petty politics is back in vogue. It now transpires that No. 10 has blocked plans to bring the beaver back to Britain because officials view it as an, er, ‘Tory legacy’. Talk about wild
For a little while now there have been questions as to whether the commentary of Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart on their podcast The Rest Is Politics is in tune with reality. Ahead of the US election, Stewart – the former Tory politician – claimed with certainty that Kamala Harris would win only to be
When it rains for the Labour lot, it pours. Pressure is piling on Labour minister Tulip Siddiq to resign from her anti-corruption role as it now transpires the City minister has been named in a second Bangladesh corruption inquiry linked to her aunt’s corrupt regime. The UK Anti-Corruption Coalition has slammed Siddiq for remaining in
Uh oh. 2025 hasn’t gotten off to the best start for Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour lot and YouGov’s first Westminster voting intention poll since the July election is unlikely to brighten the mood in No. 10. The new poll reveals that support for Starmer’s army has plummeted nine points in the survey with just over
Another day, another Labour drama. Rachel Reeves has returned from her weekend China trip to a rather uncomfortable atmosphere back home after last week’s bond market turmoil – with the Labour lot facing surging borrowing costs while Whitehall departments fear further spending cuts. So perhaps it’s not all that surprising that the question of how
