Steerpike

Steerpike

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

Dominic Cummings’ fake news

With characteristic verve, former Vote Leave campaign chief Dominic Cummings has taken to his blog to brand the latest DCMS select committee report ‘fake news from the fake news committee.’ But has the high priest of fighting fake news being practising what he preaches when it comes to spreading false information? Mr S has cause

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Eight people who’ve changed their Brexit position

It can be hard work keeping track of how Brexit is going. Last week alone we had the government adopt a series of amendments which were designed to wreck the very plans they had put forward, a minister resign in order to support the government’s original position, and a president argue that the proposals both

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Gavin Barwell sets the bar low

Oh dear. It used to be that the Conservatives had their eyes on a 100-seat majority, now it seems that they’ll celebrate a draw. Theresa May’s chief of staff Gavin Barwell appears to be spending his Friday attempting to rally the troops today by retweeting a host of ‘favourable’ polls and results from around the

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SNP’s fake Brexit news

Given the current mess the Conservative party finds itself in, you’d be forgiven for thinking that all their opponents need to do is sit back, watch and enjoy the show. Yet it seems they can’t help themselves. As Labour stay in the headlines with a fresh anti-Semitism row, the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford attempted

Labour MPs’ Love Island fandom moves up a gear

Last month Mr Steerpike revealed that a group of Labour MPs had formed a special WhatsApp group to secretly liaise with one another. The topic? Rather than anti-Corbynista plots, Lucy Powell, Jess Phillips and Stella Creasy message one another about Love Island – the reality show in which young Brits try and find love. Happily, the

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Boris Johnson’s new-found freedom

As Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson found himself restrained in ways that didn’t suit him. Now on the backbench once again, BoJo is able to speak freely on Brexit. He’s also able to return to a favourite pastime: cycling. Although Johnson is a well known cycling enthusiast, the keen pedaller has been stuck on foot since

Listen: John McDonnell – ‘we are a party that’s anti-Semitist’

A poll earlier this year found that almost two-thirds of the British public believe Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party has a problem with racism or religious prejudice. However, up until now Mr S hadn’t thought John McDonnell was one of them. Speaking on the Today programme this morning, the Shadow Chancellor attempted to rebuff suggestions that

Watch: Brexiteer MPs round on Olly Robbins at select committee

Following the resignation of David Davis, Brexiteers and Remainers alike have been left wondering how Brexit is going, and more importantly, who is really in charge of the negotiations with the EU. Today they got their chance to find out, as new Brexit secretary Dominic Raab and Number 10’s widely-loathed Brexit guru Olly Robbins were

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John Bercow gets another tennis freebie

John Bercow wasn’t spotted in the Royal Box at Wimbledon this year but Mr S is pleased to report that the Speaker still managed to get his tennis fix this summer. Bercow accepted two free tickets worth £630 to attend the final of Queens in June, according to the register of members’ interests. The jolly –

Watch: Return of the Maybot

The Maybot is back. The Prime Minister has just been doing a Q and A with workers in Newcastle when she was asked how she likes to unwind. Here’s what she had to say: ‘There are several things I like to do. I like walking…I enjoy cooking, which has a benefit because you get to

Vince Cable’s missed opportunity

This week the government narrowly avoided defeat on two government-backed amendments tabled by the European Research Group. In the end, the government squeaked through by just three votes. So, it didn’t go down particularly well with the pro-EU crew that neither the former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron or his successor, Vince Cable, bothered to turn

Olly Robbins’ Brexit bonus

Theresa May’s Brexit plan is going down badly and the EU is telling members states to step up preparations for ‘no deal’. You’d be forgiven for thinking that Brexit isn’t going entirely to plan. But this mess didn’t stop the Prime Minister’s Brexit guru Olly Robbins getting a bonus last year. Robbins was rewarded with a payment

Jacob Rees-Mogg backs Boris

Boris Johnson’s resignation speech wasn’t the Geoffrey Howe moment some had built it up to be. But the former Foreign Secretary’s critique of Theresa May’s Brexit policy certainly gave Tory MPs food for thought. Johnson made clear he thought the policy amounted to Brexit in name only – and pushed for a change of course.

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Dominic Raab’s special turn

Theresa May’s government may be on the verge of collapse but it’s still business as usual on the Westminster summer party scene. At think tank Freer’s summer party at the Institute of Economic Affairs, Liz Truss introduced the new Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab – finding time to send him up after he was outed for