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
David Lidington found himself briefly trending on Twitter over the weekend after reports began to circulate that May’s de facto deputy was being talked up as a caretaker prime minister. The idea was that Lidington – a former Europe minister who voted Remain – could step in for May and act as a unifying leader
For the first time in living memory, MPs seized control of the parliamentary timetable today, in order to hold a series of indicative votes to work out parliament’s preferred Brexit outcome. As expected, the constitutional upheaval precipitated by Oliver Letwin has provoked a fair amount of controversy in the House of Commons, with MPs opposing
Tories beware – Jeremy Corbyn is in ‘training for power’. But the Labour leader isn’t readying himself for Downing Street by ensuring his party finally makes up its mind on Brexit. Instead, he is going on long runs, according to a Corbynista fan site with close links to the Labour leader’s office. Skwawkbox reports that
After the chaos in the voting lobbies two weeks ago, when ministers claimed to not know they’d rebelled against the government, the Conservative whips were taking no chances ahead of yesterday’s crunch vote. MPs were warned early on which motions they should support, and as soon as Oliver Letwin’s amendment was passed, a quick-fire email
This evening MPs voted to take back control, as they backed an amendment tabled by Oliver Letwin to seize control of the parliamentary timetable on Wednesday in order to hold a series of indicative Brexit votes. And while some in the Chamber were clearly happy to see parliament flex its muscles against the government, others
It seems that the editors of the New York Times will print any nonsense about Britain — the British live on mutton and oatmeal! — so long as it confirms their prejudices about Brexit. ‘With nothing meaningful to say about our future, we’ve retreated into the falsehoods of the past, painting over the absence of certainty at our
Ever since MPs first voted to trigger Article 50 everyone has been told that Britain, by law, will be leaving the EU on 29 March. And if that date was ever to change, then Parliament would have to vote for it to change. That’s the British constitution which can be summed up in eight words: ‘What
In these divided times the politics of centrist parties is all about building connections and crossing divides, so what better flyer design for a by-election in Newport, Wales than a local bridge? Unfortunately for the anti-Brexit Renew party, the bridge they chose for their election flyer was the Claiborne Pell Bridge in Newport… Rhode Island,
With Theresa May’s premiership on the ropes, there’s an expectation of a Tory leadership contest later this year. It follows that Conservative heavyweights are currently working their hardest to lay the groundwork for a future campaign. In that vein, the latest register of interests shows that rivals Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab, Amber Rudd and Michael
Oh dear, it seems as if the pressure placed on John Bercow after he blocked a third meaningful vote on May’s Brexit deal, may have gotten to the Speaker’s head as of late. In the Chamber today, Bercow appeared visibly angry when he apparently spied an MP behaving in a partisan way, and launched into
It’s not just the government who have been caught by surprise at Bercow’s vote announcement yesterday, it raised eyebrows in Germany too. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted this morning ‘I must confess I was not familiar with the rules of order of the British parliament from the 17th century’. Of course, Mr S, a
As Westminster descended into chaos last night, with the Speaker’s announcement that he would block Theresa May’s meaningful vote, and with only eleven days until Brexit, where else would politicos be except the British Kebab Awards – which celebrate all that is good about the humble kebab shop. There was a serious moment at the
Today, the Speaker John Bercow dealt a harsh blow to the government’s Brexit strategy after announcing that he would block a third vote on Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement, unless it changed in a substantial way. Not content though with just one attack on the government, the Speaker also found time to launch a dig at
Where is Fiona Onasanya, and will she fight to remain as an MP? This has been the question on everyone’s lips ever since the courts rejected the former Labour MP’s appeal against conviction for perverting the course of justice. Onasanya has been spotted in the voting lobbies since the decision — possibly becoming the first ever
Only last night, it was reported that Tory rebels – including a former cabinet minister – were refusing to back May’s Brexit deal unless she promised to resign. Well it seems like they may have moved up their schedule. This morning, a removal van was spotted parked at the back of 10 Downing Street: Mr S
Leo Varadkar is meeting Donald Trump today but the Irish Taoiseach’s bid to drum up a trade deal between the EU and the United States has just backfired spectacularly. In their televised chat in the Oval Office, Varadkar told Trump: ‘I look forward to talking to you…about trade, and how much I would like to see a
The Conservative MP, Scott Mann, was widely mocked this morning, after he suggested that Britain’s knife-crime epidemic could be solved by putting a GPS tracker inside every single knife in the UK: Every knife sold in the UK should have a gps tracker fitted in the handle. It’s time we had a national database like
After abstaining on a vote against no deal yesterday evening, the three Cabinet ministers who defied the whip: Amber Rudd, Greg Clark and David Gauke seemed to be enjoying their newfound notoriety, as they walked to an impromptu Cabinet meeting this afternoon in Number 10. The trio rocked up to the meeting as a bunch in a
Following the government’s defeat on a motion ruling out no deal, Brexiteer MPs in the Tory party will be asking themselves one key question this evening: if Brexit might not happen at all, should I support May’s deal? The issue already appears to have split some of the Brexiteers in parliament, with MPs such as
What’s the best way to describe Britain’s current Brexit situation? ‘Mess’ and ‘disaster’ probably spring to mind. But Mr S would also find it hard to disagree with the verdict of Trudy Harrison. The Tory MP delivered this verdict: ‘We were just discussing in my office how we would describe the current situation, and using