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
Now that Boris Johnson’s new ministers are in place and the key players in his administration firmly established, the curtain has been decisively drawn over the May era. But who has lost the most and been cast aside in the transition to Boris’s new ‘golden age’? Mr S. presents his pick… Alan Duncan Alan Duncan,
Jacob Rees-Mogg’s frontbench debut made it clear he won’t be a typical member of the Cabinet. Fresh from making waves in Parliament, the new leader of the house of Commons has now released his own style guide for staff. On the banned list are full stops after Miss. or Ms., commas after and, and double
Theresa May’s clashes with Jeremy Corbyn were usually dull affairs. Now that Boris Johnson is Prime Minister, Mr S. is looking forward to some livelier bust-ups in Parliament. Boris didn’t disappoint in his first encounter with the Labour leader. Here are five of the best bits from Boris’s government debut: Corbyn’s ‘terrible’ Brexit ‘metamorphosis’: Boris wasted
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is already delighting his supporters, but not everyone is happy about Britain’s new leader. Boris’s first speech in Downing Street and the Cabinet bloodbath that followed has led to a fair bit of wailing and gnashing of teeth, not least on Twitter. From independent group MPs and David Lammy to the
Jacob Rees-Mogg, as newly appointed Leader of the Commons, had his first stint at the dispatch box this morning, after being elevated to Boris Johnson’s Cabinet late last night. The Commons Leader is responsible for the government’s business in the House and as expected Mogg, with his encyclopaedic knowledge of parliamentary procedure and history, was clearly
Boris Johnson has only been in Downing Street for a few hours but already Dominic Grieve is trying to stir up trouble. Asked to sum up the new Prime Minister, Grieve responded: ‘He’s a charlatan. I mean that is the clear evidence of his career and the way he has operated politically. And that is
Boris Johnson may have been elected by Tory members and become leader of the Conservative party, but until he finally meets the Queen in Buckingham Palace he is not, constitutionally, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Which explains why some, clearly still hoping to stave off his premiership, made a desperate bid to stop
The appointment of Remain-leaning Mark Spencer to Chief Whip in Boris Johnson’s incoming government has excited Conservative MPs from across the benches. Many will be wondering who else will be chosen to join what could be a broader coalition than had been expected. Perhaps though they should show some caution. Speaking on The Spectator’s Women with Balls,
Theresa May’s time at Parliament’s despatch box is up. The Prime Minister has just faced her final session of PMQs, finishing off by telling MPs the ‘duty’ to ‘serve my constituents will remain my greatest motivation’. Here is the video of the moment she said goodbye: Most MPs stood up and applauded the PM as
Jared O’Mara, the former Labour MP (who was briefly suspended from the party in 2018 over a series of online comments) has been something of an enigma in Westminster of late. Although he promised to fight for his constituents when he left the Labour party to become an independent, the politician has since missed a
Tom Watson’s face is splashed across the front pages of the newspapers today but unfortunately for the typically publicity-hungry Watson it’s for all the wrong reasons. Labour’s deputy leader is facing calls to quit following the conviction of Carl Beech, a fantasist who was yesterday found guilty of making up claims about a VIP paedophile
Theresa May has had a busy few weeks, frantically churning out press releases, consultations and policies to build a legacy before she is replaced by her nemesis Boris Johnson. And as one of her final acts as Prime Minister, Theresa May took the unusual step of appointing Imam Qari Asim as a new Islamophobia tsar this
Boris Johnson became the next prime minister of the United Kingdom and leader of the Conservative party this afternoon, after Tory members overwhelmingly backed him over Jeremy Hunt. And almost as soon as the result was announced, messages began pouring in from people across the world. US president Donald Trump was the first to pass
Alan Duncan may have been the first to resign ahead of Boris Johnson’s expected coronation as prime minister but he won’t be the last. Philip Hammond has already announced he’ll jump before he is pushed. And the rest of the so-called Gaukeward Squad are preparing to make their feelings about Boris known. But what about
Sir Alan Duncan became the first minister to resign from the government today, ahead of Boris Johnson’s likely promotion to become the next prime minister. In a letter to Theresa May handing in his resignation, Duncan said that he had left government before the expected change on Wednesday so he could be ‘free to express
As parliament voted today on an amendment which would make suspending parliament to prevent a no-deal Brexit more difficult, one MP was conspicuously absent from the events. After the vote it was noted that Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who has ruled out proroguing parliament if he becomes the next leader of the Tory party, was listed
Leo Varadkar certainly talks tough when it comes to Brexit, but is the Irish PM preparing to back down? Mr S. only asks because the Taoiseach conceded this morning that he is ‘willing to compromise’ over Brexit. This marks something of a change from his earlier comments in which he has repeatedly dismissed alternatives to the
It’s the end of an era tonight as This Week goes out for the very last time. The BBC’s late-night politics show has built up a cult following since it first aired in 2003. A host of politicians, from Diane Abbott and Jacob Rees-Mogg, to Charles Kennedy and Ken Livingstone have all appeared. Singer Pete Doherty,
Did you know that Jeremy Hunt is an entrepreneur? If you’ve heard any of the Tory leadership contender’s speeches or been at a hustings event, you are bound to, given how often Hunt has mentioned his business background. But while Mr S. doesn’t doubt Hunt’s money-making credentials, he does wonder whether he could do with brushing
There is no love lost between Dominic Grieve and his local Tory party association, but Mr S. thinks that the MP for Beaconsfield’s latest comments will hardly help matters. At an event in London, Grieve said there had been a ‘Talibanisation’ of the Tory party. He also said that a fear of being deselected was