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
After the election, when discussions turned to Boris Johnson’s inevitable cabinet reshuffle, most pundits were certain Julian Smith was destined for the door. The Northern Ireland secretary had made himself unpopular with No. 10 following several cabinet table outburst – the most notable being over Johnson’s decision to prorogue parliament. So when it was announced
When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced last week that they were stepping down as ‘senior’ members of the royal family to ‘carve out a progressive new role within [the royal] institution’, plenty of eyebrows were raised at the couple’s suggestion that they would work toward financial independence as well. After all, how will
Flailing leadership hopeful Clive Lewis has weighed in on the Prince Harry and Meghan Markle debacle, telling those at his campaign launch this morning that Britain needs another referendum – this time on the existence of the monarchy. Unsatisfied with the degree of discord sown in the wake of 2016, Lewis has decided that we
At present, it seems like the bells of the Elizabeth Tower will remain silent at 11pm on 31 January, as Britain leaves the EU. Although the new Speaker Lindsay Hoyle vowed at the end of last year to not block Big Ben ringing on Brexit day, an attempt to legislate the matter, by amending Boris Johnson’s Withdrawal
Will Barry Gardiner enter the race to become leader of the Labour party? The Shadow international development secretary certainly thinks he has what it takes. Following reports last night that he was mulling a shock late entry into the leadership contest, Gardiner appeared on Victoria Derbyshire’s BBC show this morning, live from Abu Dhabi, where
Jeremy Corbyn is a two-time election loser who condemned his party to a dismal defeat at the hands of Boris Johnson last month. So how would those vying to replace Corbyn rate his time at the top? Asked to give a mark out of ten, Rebecca Long Bailey had this to say: ‘I thought Jeremy
In recent weeks, a former head of the civil service has been quoted almost incessantly in the pages of the British press. Lord Kerslake today warned the government over its supposed plans for Whitehall reform. Last week, he criticised the ‘serious and extraordinary’ leak of personal New Year’s Honours list data. Before that, the same Lord Kerslake called on
Labour’s Rebecca Long Bailey formally announced her leadership bid last night, and formally planted her flag as the Corbyn continuity candidate. In a piece in the left-wing Tribune magazine, the aspiring Labour leader said the she didn’t just agree with Jeremy Corbyn’s policies at the last election, she ‘spent the last four years writing them’, and
For true socialists up and down the land, last night must have been a bitter blow. Electoral defeat might be something they have come to expect, but as we know the actual job of a left-wing leader is to remould the party and cast out the Blairites. So to lose the only real revolutionary in
Oh dear. It’s not even 2020 yet and already the Labour leadership contest has descended into farce. Despite numerous private conversations over Jeremy Corbyn’s successor ahead of Labour’s election disaster, the Corbynistas have so far been unable to unite around one candidate. John McDonnell’s preferred successor Rebecca Long-Bailey has taken so long to get her
In previous years, Boxing Day has proved an occasion in which high profile Tories can find themselves in the firing line for taking part in various fox hunts across the country. However, this Boxing Day, it’s another political figure making headlines for their interactions with a fox. Step forward Jolyon Maugham QC. The Remain-supporting lawyer
The newly re-elected MP for Leeds West Rachel Reeves has never got on particularly well with the far-left wing of her party. When Corbyn was elected as Labour leader back in September 2015, Reeves announced she would not be serving in his shadow cabinet. Since then, she has regularly criticised Corbyn, suggesting that he should
And so, with little fanfare and somewhat inevitably, The Independent Group for Change (formerly Change UK, formerly The Independent Group) has announced the gradual cessation of all party activity. In reality, the party was over the moment Boris Johnson successfully managed to engineer a general election, and probably well before then. Undoubtedly this announcement will
The Prime Minister took to his feet in the House of Commons earlier this afternoon to lay out his government’s agenda for the next five years. Johnson called the plans ‘a blueprint for the future of Britain’ before embarking on a whistlestop tour of his ambitions. Those seeking to probe the government’s policy agenda in
The Conservative MP Tracey Crouch was invited to make the so-called ‘loyal address’, a parliamentary procedure used to formally open the debate on the Queen’s Speech. During her submissions to the Commons, Ms Crouch jokingly referred to a number of A Christmas Carol characters, comparing them (with various degrees of favourability) to past and former politicians. Both the
It’s not exactly going to be a fun day at the office for Jeremy Corbyn. The Labour leader’s decision to stay in post until his successor is found means that he retains the position of Leader of the Opposition, and all the responsibilities that entails. Which means today, not only will Corbyn have to suffer
The newly-elected MP for Leicester East and loyal Corbynite Claudia Webbe spoke to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme earlier this morning. Webbe was asked why her party failed so badly at the general election but appeared unable to answer Nick Robinson’s simple line of questioning. Rather than responding to questions about the popularity of the policies,
As the week rolls on, the recriminations just keep coming. One thing is for sure, its still not Jeremy’s fault. So, despite the best evidence to the contrary, Mr S has decided to update the list of reasons given by Corbynistas as to why their leader fell so flat. The ‘print media’ Dawn Butler was
As soon as the exit poll was released on Thursday night, showing that Labour had been decimated in the general election, most people expected that the party would spend the next few months (or longer) tearing itself apart. Even so, few expected that that its representatives would have begun suing each other so soon after
Has Greta Thunberg been caught out repeating the same trick as Jeremy Corbyn? Thunberg tweeted an image of herself sitting on the floor of what she described as an ‘overcrowded’ train on her way back to Sweden: However, the tweet quickly sparked controversy with German train operator Deutsche Bahn appearing to derail Greta’s suggestion that