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
You’ve got to hand it to Richard Burgon, the man’s not short on ideas (whether or not they’re good ideas is another matter). First, it was his plan to give Labour’s left-wing members a veto on UK military action. Now he’s promised to set up the ‘Tony Benn School of Political Education’. And what would
James Grundy became the Conservative MP for Leigh last December after managing to overturn a 10,000 vote majority and 97 years of Labour dominance. Less impressive, however, is a recording of Grundy obtained by LBC which appears to show the MP flashing in a pub back in 2007. Grundy, who went on to become a
Could the Six Nations rugby tournament be the first high profile victim of the coronavirus? England supporters are expecting to decamp to Rome’s Stadio Olimpico in just over two weeks time for the final round match against Italy. But the chances of the game going ahead seem to be fading as fast as Italy’s hopes
Spare a thought for the Corbynites. Not only have they spectacularly crashed the only viable parliamentary vehicle for the left, they’ve also managed to screw up what was meant to be a socialist coronation. So it must be particularly difficult for David Graeber, an anthropology professor at the LSE and avid Corbyn supporter. He tweeted
Keir Starmer is the favourite to take over from Jeremy Corbyn, but is he too boring for the top job in the Labour party? Starmer’s critics insist he is and that he lacks the personality to take on Boris Johnson. Unfortunately his attempt to counter that argument rather backfired this morning. Asked by Nick Ferrari
Everyone knows what the oldest profession in the world is supposed to be. But what came afterwards? Labour deputy leadership hopeful Dawn Butler has put forward her suggestion: accountants. In an interview with Pink News, had this to say: ‘Sex work is the oldest profession in the world…It’s older than accountants. Apparently, sex work came
Leo Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach, has tendered his resignation. After gambling his political career on an election in which he hoped Brexit would be the defining factor, the Irish voters decided they cared about pretty much anything but. In fact, just one per cent of Irish voters cited Brexit as a decisive factor for them
Throughout the Labour leadership election, Lisa Nandy has sought to pitch herself as the more moderate candidate in the race – the candidate who can break away from Corbyn’s rule of the party, and win back traditional, working-class Labour voters in the North and Midlands who abandoned the party at the last election. So it
Sajid Javid has just taken a pop at Boris Johnson following his departure from the cabinet earlier today. The ex-chancellor said no ‘self-respecting minister’ would have been able to accept the terms presented to him by the PM if he wanted to stay in the job. He told the BBC: ‘The conditions that were attached…I
Oh dear. Nothing seems to be going right for the SNP these days. Not only has Nicola Sturgeon lost her finance secretary after he sent inappropriate texts to a teenage boy, but her party is now facing a police investigation in Belgium. The naughty Nats appear to have caused a diplomatic incident after they decided
How would you define bullying? Perhaps it involves aggression or intimidation? Or perhaps bullying might include name-calling or the use derogatory language? But according to Labour’s would-be deputy Dawn Butler, bullying goes quite a bit further than that. During an interview with Sky’s Sophy Ridge this morning, Butler told the presenter that she thought the
Ever since leaving parliament, George Osborne has been piling up jobs almost as fast as he piled up the national debt when in office (nine, at the last count) But he might soon have an easier balancing act, with his editorship of the Evening Standard in question. The rumour from Derry Street is that the
Iain Dale was joined this morning by Corbynista Grace Blakeley on Good Morning Britain. The pair were there to discuss reports that an autistic teenager who threw a young boy off the Tate Modern’s viewing platform had warned his carers beforehand that he planned to push someone off a building in London. Blakeley of Tribune
Oh dear. While most of us will have had an embarrassing IT cock-up at some point in our lives, most of us don’t have a Prime Minister for a son. So it was with some sympathy that Mr S saw the news that Stanley Johnson had mistakenly emailed details of a private meeting he had
After Claire Perry O’Neill was unceremoniously dumped as the president of the COP26 UN climate change summit in Glasgow, it was revealed today that Boris Johnson had been casting his net wide in search of her successor. It has been reported that Boris asked none other than David Cameron to take Claire Perry O’Neill’s place,
Some ministers prefer to jump before they’re pushed. Take Philip Hammond, who opted to walk away last year before the inevitable happened. So Mr S. can’t help but wonder whether Geoffrey Cox is soon to follow suit. Reports have already emerged that Cox is planning a return to life as a barrister. And who can
John Bercow has come under renewed fire this week over allegations he bullied members of staff while working in the Commons. Former Black Rod David Leakey came forward to claim that Bercow – who denies the allegations – ‘brutalised Commons staff’. And Lord Lisvane, a former chief clerk of the House of Commons has also
Keir Starmer has complained to the head of the civil service after a spat between political journalists and Downing Street. The row broke out after No. 10 insisted that only ‘senior, specialist members of the lobby’ could attend a briefing with Brexit negotiator David Frost. Several journalists decided to walk out of No. 10 as
It’s finally Brexit day, but while some are celebrating, others are finding it hard to get into the mood. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Britain’s departure from the EU isn’t going down well in Oxford. As well as flying an EU flag over the Town Hall today, the city is also holding a candlelight vigil for the EU
No. 10’s relationship with the media has been frosty at times, with ministers reportedly banned from appearing on shows like the Today programme. Boris Johnson has now taken that antipathy a step further. The PM has been caught on Sky News talking to a school children about one of the biggest long-running news stories of