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
Just as the House of Commons is about to rise for Easter recess, Her Majesty’s Official Opposition has been hit with some rather unfortunate news. As revealed by the Guardian, the Tories have lost one of their biggest donors – in a move that could, insiders believe, lead to the closure of the party’s headquarters
Stock markets around the world continue to plummet but Donald Trump has his mind on other matters: his tariff war with China. The American president has this afternoon hit back at Beijing’s announcement on Friday that it would impose retaliatory tariffs of 34 per cent on US goods following Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ levies last week.
Uh oh. There’s trouble in Trumpland. Leader of the President’s Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk has taken to his social media site today to post a video by Milton Friedman lauding the virtues of free markets and multi-stage supply chains – showing the US economist praising the ‘magic’ of the ‘essential’ free market and
Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch are not known to be especially chummy at the best of times – and relations have worsened after two Labour MPs were denied entry to Israel over the weekend. Lammy was quick to accuse the Tory leader of ‘cheerleading another country for detaining and deporting
A former Labour minister was arrested on Friday on suspicion of rape and child sex offences. The Sun on Sunday tonight reports that Dan Norris, 65, MP for North East Somerset and Hanham, was arrested on Friday over claims of historic sexual offences against a girl and a rape allegation from the 2020s. Avon and Somerset Police confirmed he had
The Scottish Liberal Democrats aren’t best known for their ability to grab headlines – but today the spotlight is on them. At the group’s spring conference in Inverness, leader Alex Cole-Hamilton this afternoon unveiled the latest addition to the party: the ex-Tory MSP who dramatically quit the Conservatives on Thursday after blasting their ‘Trump-esque’ style.
There’s a new man about Whitehall. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has appointed Oli de Botton – ex-adviser to David Miliband and the husband of former No. 10 communications chief Amber de Botton – as his Expert Adviser on Education and Skills. The role of the new skills guru will be to advise ministers on the
If you thought progressive politics couldn’t get any worse, think again. It transpires that the Labour-led Westminster city council is advising its staff to undergo, er, ‘privilege’ testing and inclusive recruitment training in a bid to hire more people from non-white ‘global majority’ backgrounds. Time well spent… The rather baffling virtual privilege test helps council
The economy may not be expanding, but Labour is determined Britain’s airports will. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has today approved proposals to expand Luton Airport – with plans for a new terminal given a green light. So keen is the Labour minister to push the project, Alexander has overruled the Planning Inspectorate’s advice that she
To the monarch of Montecito, who is once again making headlines for all the wrong reasons. It turns out the Charity Commission is probing ‘concerns raised’ at Prince Harry’s African charity, Sentebale – as a battle over bullying rages in the boardroom. Oh dear… The royal renegade’s organisation has come under fire over its governance,
All is not well in the Scottish Tory party. Onetime leadership hopeful Jamie Greene MSP has dramatically quit the party today, announcing his exit in a scathing letter to current leader Russell Findlay. Raging that the group has become ‘Trump-esque in both style and substance’, Greene fumed that the Scottish Conservatives were at risk of
It’s all kicking off in Bristol. On Friday, Reform UK announced that the multimillionaire Arron Banks was going to be their candidate for the mayoralty of the West of England. But the self-proclaimed ‘bad boy of Brexit’ faces opposition from overzealous apparatchiks on Bristol City Council. Officials from the Green-run authority have told Banks that
Patrick Harvie has today announced – and not a moment too soon – that he will step down as co-leader of the Scottish Greens this summer. It will end his tenure as Holyrood’s longest-serving party chief after he clung onto the top job for almost 17 years. To mark the occasion, Mr S has compiled
Does Prime Minister Keir Starmer understand the difference between fact and fiction? Mr S isn’t so sure – after the Labour leader referred to the new Netflix series Adolescence as a documentary for the, er, second time. Either Sir Keir is ignorant about what exactly the show is – which, given he has referred to
Support for Labour has dipped to a new low in more bad news for the reds. Data released today reveals that support for Sir Keir Starmer’s party has dropped to the lowest level yet in a More in Common survey, with Westminster voting intention for Starmer’s army at just 21 per cent – leaving the
How do you achieve anything in British politics? It’s simple: turn your cause into a TV drama. First, it was ITV’s Mr Bates vs the Post Office. Now, it is Netflix and Adolescence. The release of the crime drama mini-series has sparked a veritable hue-and-cry about the urgent ‘crisis’ facing young British males. Keir Starmer
Happy April Fools’ Day one and all. As it is now after 12, Mr S has been hopefully scouring the headlines for confirmation that the smorgasbord of April 1st price rises are not actually happening. But, alas, they are indeed real – with Steerpike’s colleague Michael Simmons providing a cheery round-up here. As P.G Wodehouse
Zut alors. The trial of the decade is concluding in France today, with major ramifications for the next presidential election in 2027. This morning Marine Le Pen and eight MEPs were found guilty of misappropriation of public funds. The case revolved around the alleged embezzlement of EU funds to pay RN staff for party work.
It’s the new rule of British politics: if you’re going to quit, do it on a Friday. Labour has had something of a bumpy first nine months in office. Sue Gray was out within 94 days – and now others are following her out the door too. This morning, Matthew Doyle, the No. 10 director
Oh dear. The Babe Ruth of the bar has blundered once again. Jolyon Maugham, the kimono-cladded KC, has been raging about PPE contracts during Covid for years now. One company that has particularly attracted his ire is Meller Designs Ltd, formerly co-owned by businessman David Meller. During the pandemic, it was awarded six PPE supply