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
John McDonnell today explained that the broadband nationalisation plans are perfectly affordable – upkeep costs would just be £230m a year. This was based on a report from the National Infrastructure Commission. It compared going for full fibre (the bars in blue, below) with incremental upgrades of the copper system (orange, below) and gave a
One of the strange things about this election is that the Conservatives could quite conceivably wake up on 13 December to find they have won a majority, but their prime minister has lost his job. In 2017 Boris Johnson only won his seat of Uxbridge and Ruislip with just over 5,000 votes, placing his constituency
Oh dear. It’s been a difficult week for Nigel Farage. The Brexit party leader announced on Monday that he would not be standing candidates in Tory-held seats. He had hoped that in return the Conservatives would consider standing down candidates in a number of Labour heartlands where he believed the Brexit party would fare better.
After being heckled and called a ‘terrorist sympathiser’ when he was out campaigning in Glasgow today, Jeremy Corbyn was presumably hoping for an easier time once he escaped the crowds outside. Unfortunately though, the Labour leader proved this afternoon that he is more than capable of causing his own gaffes. In a later interview with
Jeremy Corbyn has been heckled on the campaign trail in Glasgow by a passer by who accused the Labour leader of ‘running away’. Corbyn was giving an interview when he was asked: ‘Do you think the man that’s going to be the prime minister of this country should be a terrorist sympathiser, Mr Corbyn?’ The
When Labour was hit by a cyber attack this morning it wasn’t long before the finger of blame was pointed at Russia. Corbynista MP Clive Lewis suggested it was ‘dirty tricks’. He wrote: But Mr S. recalls Lewis hasn’t always been so quick to jump to conclusions. In the aftermath of the Salisbury poisonings in
When it was revealed this week that the Labour parliamentary candidate in Coventry South, Zarah Sultana, had previously said she would celebrate the deaths of Tony Blair and Benjamin Netanyahu, few would have thought to defend her comments. In fact the candidate herself apologised this week for the remarks she made in 2015. One person
The Labour party are not in high spirits today after their election campaign was derailed by the ex-Labour MP, Ian Austin, who this morning urged ‘decent, patriotic’ Labour voters to back Boris Johnson at the election because of Labour’s continued problems with anti-Semitism. Deeply unhappy with the news was Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, Diane Abbott,
This is the explosive moment former Labour MP Ian Austin urges voters to back Boris Johnson. Austin, who announced that he was standing down as MP for Dudley North, told the Today programme that Corbyn is ‘completely unfit to lead our country’. He said that despite being a Labour party member since he was a
Oh dear. It’s safe to say the Conservative party’s election campaign has not got off to the best start. On the day of the official launch, the Tories have had a cabinet minister resign and a row over who is to blame for the Grenfell fire drag on. Now, they can add to that list:
When John Bercow was House of Commons Speaker, there was a sense on both sides that he was a politician who did not think much of Brexit. Despite the role of Speaker being a supposedly neutral job, Bercow’s decisions regarding Commons procedure led many to suspect that he held strong views on the issue. Now
Boris Johnson’s election campaign has got off to a dismal start but it seems Labour is determined to catch up. Diane Abbott appeared on the Today programme this morning to discuss her party’s anti-Semitism problem. But Mr S isn’t convinced her defence will convince many voters that things are all OK: Nick Robinson: Do you
James Cleverly was never going to have the easiest time this morning. The Tory party chairman, considered a safe pair of hands, had been sent out to do the broadcast round, after the party became embroiled in an row about Jacob Rees-Mogg’s comments on Grenfell yesterday, which were unhelpfully amplified by the Tory MP Andrew
Oh dear. Andrew Bridgen is a friend of Jacob Rees-Mogg, but it’s unlikely the Tory MP will be thanking his colleague for his latest intervention. Bridgen attempted to defend his chum on BBC’s PM programme just now following a furious reaction to Rees-Mogg’s comments about the Grenfell fire tragedy. Bridgen said that Rees-Mogg’s remarks were
This evening, as Parliament prepares to be dissolved ahead of a winter election campaign, MPs gathered in the Commons Chamber to hear the valedictory speeches of members who have made the decision to retire. Among their number was the Labour MP Kate Hoey, who is leaving her Vauxhall constituency after 30 years. Although the MP
Jacob Rees-Mogg was doing the broadcast round for the Tories this morning, to discuss the Conservative party’s plans for Brexit and the country, as the general election campaign gains pace. But instead of singing the government’s praises, the Leader of the Commons instead ended up being embroiled in a row about the Grenfell fire disaster
When Tory MPs look for reasons to be optimistic about the incoming election, one thing they point to is the fact that this time around Nick Timothy is not involved. Theresa May’s former aide is widely blamed within the Conservative party for the 2017 manifesto which saw the Tories shed popularity over the so-called dementia
Jacob Rees-Mogg looks like he is in a fight to retain his seat at the snap election. Or so you might think from the Lib Dems’ campaign literature, which appears to give the Tory MP a slender six per cent cushion against the Lib Dems. But if you read the small print, the actual question
Could Donald Trump help Boris Johnson stave off the threat of the Brexit party and enable the Tories to win the snap election? He certainly seems to be doing his best to help out the PM. Nigel Farage has interviewed Donald Trump for his radio phone-in show on LBC tonight and the president urged the
John Bercow has received his fair share of fawning eulogies of late, as the House of Commons laments his departure as Speaker. But, unsurprisingly, several MPs are equally happy to see him go. Today was Tory MP Andrew Bridgen’s turn to pass on his farewell – the MP was in Parliament to debate the recent