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
Anyone looking at the glacial pace of this recent Parliament when it comes to Brexit, and its tortuous decision to extend Article 50 once again, will probably understand why Boris Johnson is so keen to call an election this Christmas – especially when he doesn’t currently have a majority in the House of Commons. For
It’s all out chaos at the People’s Vote campaign today, after the outgoing chairman of Open Britain (one of the campaign’s five organisations) Roland Rudd attempted to fire the group’s head of communications, Tom Baldwin, and its director, James McGrory. In their place, Rudd wished to appoint Patrick Heneghan, the former head of campaigns for the Labour
Oh dear. As Boris Johnson attempts to call a general election, this could be the week that supporters of a second referendum get together and push for a so-called people’s vote before any snap poll. One of the big Tory worries is that a majority of MPs could coalesce around such a position. However, that
When Rory Stewart declared his candidacy for the London mayor, there was some concern in CCHQ that the former Conservative MP could eat into Tory candidate Shaun Bailey’s vote share. Stewart has been keen to pitch himself as an outward looking politician in touch with modern Britain. While there’s still some way to go to
Boris Johnson has announced that MPs in the House of Commons will vote next week on holding an election on 12 December, in an attempt to break the Brexit impasse. And as expected, plenty of Labour MPs are already lining up to think of reasons to avoid being accountable to the electorate. Mr S wonders
George Osborne may have stepped away from the front-line of politics when he become editor of the Evening Standard, but the former Chancellor still clearly hasn’t lost his reputation for political ruthlessness. Osborne’s knives were out this morning, after CCHQ’s press office criticised his paper’s coverage of Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal. The Standard had accused the government
‘A general election will solve nothing,’ Anna Soubry has just told the Commons. But it seems not all of her parliamentary colleagues agree. Labour MP John Mann responded to Soubry by repeatedly yelling out: ‘It will get rid of you’ It’s safe to say Soubry was not impressed: ‘Can I just say actually, I don’t
David Lammy has said Boris Johnson’s bid to fast track his Brexit bill through Parliament means MPs won’t have enough time to scrutinise it properly. Lammy said ‘giving MPs so little time to scrutinise one of the most consequential pieces of legislation we’ll vote on is as transparent as it is cynical’. But while fellow
Boris Johnson can be forgiven for feeling worried when Theresa May took to her feet in the Commons just now. The former prime minister started with the words: ‘I intend to rebel…’. Fortunately for her successor, she then added: ‘…against all of those who don’t want to deliver Brexit.’ May said she intended to back
It’s been a hard couple of days for the Extinction Rebellion protestors. First, the group’s disastrous attempt to block the underground yesterday spectacularly backfired, turning the public against them. And today, the ongoing drama in Westminster over Boris’s Brexit deal has overshadowed their protests. Which may explain why one intrepid protestor resorted to more extreme
The inner workings of the European Union can often seem like a chummy club to outside observers – a place where EU bureaucrats, well-enumerated MEPs and Brussels-based journalists work together and fraternise behind closed doors. That clubby atmosphere certainly seemed to be on display today at Jean-Claude Juncker’s final European Council press conference in Brussels,
It looks as though it is all getting a bit too much for Jean-Claude Juncker. The EU Commission president snapped at Channel 4 News’s Matt Frei for asking him a question. ‘I’m speaking,’ Juncker yelled when he was quizzed on ruling out another extension. Oh dear.
Boris Johnson managed to defy his critics today and reach a Brexit deal with the European Union. The new agreement updates the Northern Ireland protocol of Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement and the Political Declaration, which deals with the future relationship. But while the rest of the deal appears to be unchanged, Boris has succeeded in
‘Well, it’s just not Brexit’. That’s Nigel Farage’s withering verdict on Boris Johnson’s revised deal with the EU. The Brexit party leader waited all of an hour before telling the BBC that the new agreement was not up to scratch: ‘It should be rejected. The best way out of this would simply (be) to have
Boris Johnson has got a new Brexit deal. It’s true that the Prime Minister has some way to go if he is to get the agreement over the line, not least in trying to persuade the DUP to back it. But Mr S remembers a time not too long ago when plenty were claiming the PM
Extinction Rebellion attempted to shut down several underground lines this morning, as part of an escalation of their citywide protests against climate change. Protestors climbed on top of underground trains to prevent them from moving, and glued themselves to the electric-powered DLR. Exactly why the protestors decided to target one of the most environmentally friendly
We’re still waiting to hear what Mark Francois – and the rest of the ERG – make of Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal. But while Westminster waits with bated breath, Francois has delivered a withering verdict on SW1’s noisiest inhabitant: the ‘stop Brexit’ protester. Francois was about to give his answer during an interview on the
Sadiq Khan’s verdict was clear on plans to make voters show ID before casting their ballots: ‘This is voter suppression’, he said. ‘It will hit poorer and minority communities, just as it does in the US’. But Mr S couldn’t help but notice one of the requirements for people to attend the Mayor of London’s
Emily Thornberry has had a busy day in the Commons. Labour’s shadow foreign secretary heckled her counterpart Dominic Raab this morning after he claimed Jeremy Corbyn wanted Britain to withdraw from Nato. Now, she’s been at it again: apparently yelling the word ‘bollocks’ at international development secretary Alok Sharma during a testy exchange. John Bercow
As tradition dictates, at every Queen’s Speech and State Opening of Parliament, Black Rod (the House of Lords official) will knock three times on the House of Commons door before entering, and leading MPs to listen to the Queen’s speech in the other Chamber. And every year, like clockwork, the Labour MP Dennis Skinner will heckle
