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
Diane Abbott is no stranger to getting her numbers in a muddle, and it seems the shadow home secretary has now done it again. Abbott warned this week that some were using immigration as a euphemism for race, but Mr S was surprised by one passage in her speech. The Guardian reports that Abbott told
Oh dear. It’s safe to say that the Conservative party’s foray into WhatsApp hasn’t always been plain sailing. After MPs formed an official Tory MPs’ group on the encrypted messaging app to communicate with one another, many presumed their conversations would be secure. Alas this hasn’t proved to be the case – with the papers
Brexit minister Steve Baker has his colleagues to thank for his disastrous turn on the Daily Politics. Tory ministers have been piling in to the Corbyn Czech spy row, but it’s fair to say that some may have taken things a little too far. The Labour leader has been accused of having ‘betrayed’ his country,
The Jeremy Corbyn Czech spy story is something of an open goal for the Tories. It was no surprise then that Theresa May used the ongoing row to make a gag at the Labour leader’s expense at PMQs. During an exchange on Brexit, the PM told Corbyn: ‘Normally he stands up every week and asks
The row about Jeremy Corbyn and a Czech spy shows no sign of dying down. Following a former Czech spy’s claim that Corbyn was paid by the Eastern bloc to spy on Britain in the 1980s, the Labour leader has denied the claim and instructed solicitors to respond to ‘any false and ridiculous smears’ appearing online.
Oh dear. We’re only two months into 2018 and already the winner for ‘headline fail of the year’ appears to have been found. The Irish Herald today publishes a report on a man who ‘lived’ in a flat with his ‘dead wife’s body in a wardrobe for 48 hours’. Rather unfortunately the accompanying half page
Since Georgia ‘Toff’ Toffolo was crowned queen of the I’m a Celeb… Get Me Out of Here jungle, the (majority of) Conservatives have been on a mission to hug their celebrity supporter close. In that vein, Toff was the centre of attention at this month’s Black and White ball, where she attended as Stanley Johnson’s
Since Gavin Williamson was appointed as Defence Secretary, the Conservative MP has been in a rush to prove his credentials. From battling the Treasury over proposed military cuts to posing with rescue dogs, Williamson certainly seems a man in a hurry. However, with speed comes mistakes. Today’s Financial Times reports of a diplomatic gaffe committed
George Freeman doesn’t have the best record with regards to the Glastonbury music festival. The Conservative MP found himself the subject of light mockery this summer over his plans for a ‘Tory Glastonbury’. Freeman organised the Big Tent Ideas Festival to try and reinvigorate his tired party. Now, he has tried to take aim at
Here we go again. During the last Conservative leadership campaign, Andrea Leadsom came under fire for suggesting that having children made her a better choice to be prime minister than Theresa May. In an interview with the Times, the mother of three said having children meant she had ‘a very real stake’ in Britain’s future. The
Poor old Ukip. The party is already in dire straits, with its collapsing vote share, lack of funds and a laughing stock for a leader. You might think that things couldn’t get any worse for Ukip. But you’d be wrong: the party’s troubles look to have just increased dramatically. Ukip has just been ordered to
Oh dear. With the government already in the firing line over the decision to hand Carillion contracts despite profit warnings, ministers are attempting a damage limitation exercise as they deal with the fall-out of the company’s collapse. So, Mr S suspects whoever wrote today’s ‘update’ for Carillion workers will live to regret it. A ‘news
Theresa May’s decision to launch a verbal attack on ‘citizens of nowhere’ backfired in the snap election when metropolitan voters turned on the Prime Minister over fears her Brexit vision was an inward one. Happily, citizens of nowhere have since found some champions of their own. Citizen-of-nowhere-in-chief Janan Ganesh, the Financial Times columnist, kindly wrote
Last week Theresa May came under fire from grassroots activists not over her weak and wobbly leadership but over reported proposals to limit the say local party members have when it comes to selecting candidates. So, it’s rather unfortunate for the Prime Minister that the man currently favoured by the membership as her successor is
Boris Johnson will have his work cut out on Wednesday when he attempts to give a speech uniting Remainers and Brexiteers. Last week, Brexiteers started received death threats from the mysterious ‘real 48 per cent’. Zac Goldsmith was the first to go public when an 80-year-old constituent received one in the mail. Now Andrea Leadsom
Oh dear. This week Boris Johnson will give a speech intended to unite the country over Brexit – and, most importantly, reassure Remain voters that Brexit Britain is a country that can and will reflect liberal values. Offering a trailer for the speech on Westminster Hour was the Foreign Secretary’s PPS Conor Burns. Speaking to
Oh dear. Andrew Marr has found himself in the firing line this morning after the presenter congratulated a Tory minister on her interview… live on air. Penny Mordaunt appeared on the programme to answer questions on the unfolding Oxfam scandal and her plans as the recently appointed DfID Secretary. After putting in a confident showing,
Since leaving government, Lord Adonis has busied himself as a chief cheerleader for the campaign to stop Brexit. The Remain champion is on a mission to overturn the EU referendum result – criticising Brexit figures such as Nigel Farage for kickstarting a ‘deeply xenophobic and misogynistic’ movement. However, this doesn’t mean Adonis thinks everyone should
The Grauniad is on a mission this week to expose the shortcomings of the government’s crackdown on unpaid internships. The paper reported that Dominic Raab, the Conservative minister, had advertised an unpaid internship to support his constituency work just hours before the government published its plan to tackle unfair working practices. Only, Mr S can’t help
Here we go. This week the Freemasons have come under increased scrutiny after the Grauniad ran a front page reported that two Freemasons’ lodges are operating at Westminster – which it said were for MPs and political journalists. This had led to a series of hit-pieces and criticism of the secretive society. Now the Freemasons are fighting
