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
Oh dear. It seems Michael Heseltine ought to prepare for a visit from the RSPCA in the next week or so. The former Deputy Prime Minister has admitted to a crime, in an interview in this month’s Tatler. The 83-year-old conservative makes the confession that he strangled his mother’s pet dog, by the name of Kim.
Although Jeremy Clarkson has now moved to Amazon Prime to host a new car show, it appears that the BBC is never far from the former Top Gear host’s mind. In an interview with the Sunday Times over the weekend, Clarkson couldn’t resist revisiting his ongoing feud with Danny Cohen, the former director of television
Michael Gove has been keeping himself busy this week with his non-apology apology tour. He came close to saying sorry to Boris Johnson and admitted he made mistakes during the party’s summer leadership contest. But he has saved his biggest about-turn for this morning. In his column in The Times today, the Brexit backer has admitted
Spare a thought for John McDonnell. The shadow chancellor was up and about early this morning to criticise Theresa May on the airwaves for her stance on Brexit. But while McDonnell was eager to get his message across, Mr S wonders whether he might have forgotten something before he left the house. It seems by the time
Poor old David Cameron. His defeat in the referendum campaign left critics saying he was the worst Prime Minister ever. Now, it seems, it’s not only his legacy which falls short of some of his predecessors. Having quit Parliament, Dave was planning to use the next year to cash in on his memoirs. When his
Just when you thought it was confined to political folklore, the EdStone returns again to haunt Labour. Mr S was interested to learn this morning that the Electoral Commission has fined the party £20,000 for failing to declare the money spent on the doomed eight-foot tombstone. Labour failed to declare £7,614 worth of receipts for the stone plinth,
Steven Woolfe has said Ukip is in a ‘death spiral’ and on the basis of the latest candidate to join the party’s leadership contest, it seems like he might be right. John Rees-Evans announced this morning that he was throwing his hat in the ring to replace Nigel Farage at the top of the party. Rees-Evans is
During the EU referendum, there was a fierce contest between Vote Leave and Grassroots Out over which would win the official designation to campaign for Out. In the end, it went to Vote Leave — after it was decided that they held the widest cross-party support. Part of the issue was that the majority of
Although Chuka Umunna was widely tipped to succeed Keith Vaz as chair of the home affairs select committee, in the end it was Yvette Cooper who proved triumphant. In fact, Umunna came a distant third in the election — with Caroline Flint coming second. So, what went wrong? The word being put round Westminster is that the
Theresa May’s track record of telling jokes in the Commons isn’t good. Last month at Prime Minister’s Questions, her wise cracks went down badly and she was criticised by a Labour MP for telling ‘silly jokes when asked serious questions’. At today’s PMQs, she was at it again – and Mr S is pleased to
Spare a thought for Russell Brand. Although the comedian-turned-revolutionary-turned-comedian-again has made clear that ‘profit is a filthy word‘, in recent years this hasn’t stopped Brand from making one himself. Last year, Mr S had to break the sad news that the annual accounts for his company Pablo Diablo’s Legitimate Business Firm showed a healthy profit of
Another day, another piece of embarrassing data for those who predicted that the Brexit vote would trigger an immediate recession. Their foundation was based on the belief that confidence would plunge. As things turn out the Deloitte Consumer tracker has hit an all-time high. It has only been running for five years, so the real
First we had Rhodes Must Fall, now it’s the turn of Science Must Fall. Students at the University of Cape Town in South Africa have taken issue with the science faculty — or science in general, to be more exact. The issue? Science as it is currently understood is colonial and ought to be abolished.
Since the EU referendum result led to David Cameron’s resignation, the former Prime Minister’s friendship groups have experienced a change of fortune. While the Chipping Norton set have simply found themselves cut out, over in Notting Hill they are turning on one another. In fact, things have got so bad that Cameron’s friends are no
Emily Thornberry put in a memorable performance on Question Time last night. Unfortunately for the shadow foreign secretary, it was an appearance that will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. Thornberry was heckled after sucking up to Corbyn, and she managed to make the audience groan when she claimed what united Labour was ‘so
Oh dear. Spare a thought for the brains over at BBC Breakfast today. As the presenters told viewers that they would be speaking to Nicola Sturgeon, video footage of a psycho gorilla flashed up on the screen. This meant Auntie had to issue a hasty apology — clarifying that they were not suggesting Sturgeon was the
Since stepping down as the economics editor of Channel 4 News, Paul Mason has become a key cheerleader for Jeremy Corbyn. Mason has used media appearances — along with his social media — to campaign for the Labour leader and call out MPs who fail to show Corbyn sufficient loyalty. So, Mason today finds himself
With Seumas Milne on the way out as Jeremy Corbyn’s director of communications, he is widely expected to return to the Grauniad. The columnist and associate editor has been ‘on leave’ from the paper since he moved to the Leader’s Office last October. However, Mr S hears there is a slight hiccup delaying his much anticipated
Since the — fast depleting — SNP 56 descended on Parliament last year, there have been a number of incidents — from clapping in the Chamber to trespassing through the Chancellor’s office — that suggest the majority are not taking to Westminster etiquette like ducks to water. However, could it be one of the SNP’s longest standing MPs who
Well that didn’t last long. Just minutes after Jeremy Corbyn completed a fairly successful turn at PMQs, his spokesman plunged Labour into another row over Russia’s behaviour in Syria. Following the Foreign Secretary’s call for the public to protest outside the Russian embassy, Corbyn’s spokesman thinks they might as well head to the American embassy