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

Parliament shells out £900k on cobblestones

Whether it’s falling masonry or rats, staff in the Houses of Parliament have to put up with a lot in their workplace. Since 2020 they have to endure the daily delight of navigating New Palace Yard in various states of repair. Parly bosses boast that this is to ‘deliver better and more inclusive accessibility, enhanced

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Watch: Haka protest disrupts New Zealand’s parliament

To New Zealand, where parliamentary proceedings have become rather, er, heated during discussions on the Treaty Principles Bill. During a debate about the relationship between Māori and the crown tabled by the libertarian Act party – in which the minority coalition partner is seeking to remove principles from the treaty of Waitangi that protect Māori

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Clifton Suspension Bridge quits Musk’s Twitter

First they came for the Guardian, and then they came for the Clifton Suspension Bridge. In a move that will surely come as a blow to tech billionaire Elon Musk’s global social media platform, the Clifton Suspension Bridge and Museum has announced that it too will boycott the online messaging site over a ‘rise in

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Will Justin Welby lose his Lords seat?

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby this week announced he will resign from the top job after the pressure piled on from Church of England bishops. The move follows the publication of the Makin Review’s report on the Church’s handling of ‘serial child abuser’ John Smyth – which suggested Welby did not deal with complaints

Foreign Office flogs off £1bn of buildings

It was Norman Tebbit who joked that the Ministry of Agriculture looked after farmers while ‘the job of the Foreign Office is to look after foreigners.’ So Mr S has done some digging and it turns out that the men and women who run FCDO have ensured HM’s government are making a pretty penny or

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The Guardian announces it’s leaving Twitter – on Twitter

The absurdity of the Guardian never fails to amuse. Now the lefty newspaper has decided it is too good for one of the world’s most used social media platforms and today announced it will no longer use Twitter – by posting on, er, Twitter. You couldn’t make it up… Sharing a link to an article

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MSPs in winter fuel payment hypocrisy

Back to Scotland, where parliamentarians are under scrutiny over questionable expenses claims – this time on heating their second homes. It transpires that between 2023-24 Scottish politicians claimed a whopping £36,000 in energy bills for their rented homes in Edinburgh, with the Nats and Labour lot making up £26,000 of the total cost. Alright for

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Watch: Lib Dem MP flounders on assisted dying

The Terminally Ill Adults has at last been published and MPs can finally pour over the detail. But one supporter of assisted dying who might want to brush up on her answers is Christine Jardine, the Honourable Member for Edinburgh West. Jardine – who is co-sponsoring Kim Leadbeater’s bill in the Commons – appeared on

How many parliamentary police are failing fitness tests?

They’re the redoubtable men and women who keep our legislature safe. But is the thin blue line around the Commons looking a little bigger these days? Mr S has done some digging and found a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from the Metropolitan Police on fitness tests undertaken by the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection unit

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Sue Gray rejects Starmer’s non-job

Goodbye Sue Gray. A mere 32 days after taking a ‘short break’ from No. 10, Keir Starmer’s ex-chief of staff has today confirmed she will not continue working for the Prime Minister. Quelle surprise. Gray, who was axed after less than 100 days in the role, was offered the consolation prize of being Starmer’s ‘envoy

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Watch: Ex-Blair aide takes a pop at Britain’s farmers

Farmers across the country have been in uproar since Rachel Reeves’s Budget. Just weeks ago the Chancellor announced that agricultural land and property worth over £1 million would be subject to an inheritance tax – sparking widespread outrage among family farmers fearing for the future of their businesses. Yet while Sir Keir Starmer and his

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Tories overtake Labour in first poll since Badenoch victory

When it rains, it pours for Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour lot. The polls have gone downhill since Starmer’s army got into power, and the latest More In Common survey is no exception. In the newest survey of Westminster voting intention, it now transpires that the Tories have a two-point lead over Starmer’s lefty bunch –

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SNP Westminster leader faces backlash over Holyrood bid

Another day, another SNP drama. This morning the SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn announced he will stand as a candidate in the 2026 Holyrood election in an op-ed written for the Press & Journal. ‘I’m chucking my bonnet in the ring,’ Flynn wrote jubilantly, adding that if successful in the race to secure an MSP

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Coutinho blasts Miliband’s energy claims as ‘total nonsense’

While Sir Keir Starmer faces the world’s media today at Cop29 in Baku, his Energy Secretary Ed Miliband is on the airwaves fielding questions from the UK press. As the cost-of-living crisis persists, Miliband has been keen to assure listeners that, under Starmer’s army, his clean power by 2030 plan will not drive up household

Gary Lineker to leave Match of the Day

After years of tweaking the tail of BBC bosses, it seems that Gary Lineker has finally had enough. The left-wing centre forward is reportedly stepping down from Match of the Day at the end of this season after 25 years in post. The 63-year-old is currently the Beeb’s highest-paid star, earning more than £1.3m a

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May backs Hague for Oxford Chancellor bid

In a year of elections, none are bigger than that for Oxford Chancellor. Just five candidates remain in the race to head England’s oldest university, with William Hague and Dominic Grieve of the Tories taking on Labour peers Jan Royall and Peter Mandelson plus Dame Elish Angiolini. Voting in the second – and final –

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SNP health secretary under fire over football

What is it with separatist health secretaries claiming from the public purse for the footie? First there was the £11,000 iPad scandal, which caused a headache for hapless Humza Yousaf and pushed former SNP health secretary Michael Matheson out of his government job. Now his successor Neil Gray is in the spotlight after the Sunday

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JK Rowling blasts Alastair Campbell over women’s rights remarks

Has The Rest is Politics podcast peaked? Its hosts have certainly had a rather rocky ride of late – with ex-Tory MP Rory Stewart widely mocked last week over his bullish assertion that ‘Kamala Harris will win comfortably because Biden’s admin has been solid’ before the Democrat candidate went on to lose to Donald Trump.