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. With Diane Abbott currently off work with ‘a migraine’, the shadow home secretary is facing a growing work headache. After missing the Article 50 vote due to illness, questions have been raised over Abbott’s ability to speak at a Westminster Hall debate just three hours before falling so ill she could not vote.
On Thursday afternoon, lovers of liberty and lovers of daytime drinking came together to celebrate Boisdale Life‘s inaugural Libertarian of the Year Awards. As MPs prepared to vote for Article 50 in the Commons, those who had done their bit for individual liberties were honoured at Boisdale Belgravia. ‘I was particularly impressed to hear this chap on the radio defending smoking
Last night, 47 Labour MPs rebelled against a three-line whip and voted against the triggering of Article 50. Embarrassingly for Jeremy Corbyn, three Labour whips — meant to enforce discipline — were among the rebels. But on the bright-side, he can still count on his comrades… right? Perhaps not. Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary,
It’s tough being a woman in the Labour party. As well as having little chance of becoming party leader, it seems that those who do get close to power are often not treated with the same courtesy as their male counterparts. At least that’s what Harriet Harman thinks. Speaking at a Press Gallery lunch to
This afternoon, Ken Clarke made a particularly lively contribution to the Article 50 debate when he announced that his party had become ‘Eurosceptic and mildly anti-immigrant’. As the Remain campaigner complained that ‘no serious’ country actually holds referendums, he claimed even Enoch Powell would be surprised by how hostile to immigration the Conservatives have now become. While the
Oh dear. Although Jeremy Corbyn faces plenty of opposition on the right of his party, up until now he has managed to keep those on the left of Labour on side. But his decision to issue three-line-whip on MPs to vote in favour of Article 50 means that this could all be about to change. Derek Hatton,
As the chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Yvette Cooper is in the news today with a call for a major overhaul of the system for housing asylum seekers in Britain. After hearing evidence of some families living in homes with pest infestations, Cooper branded ‘the state of accommodation for some asylum seekers and refugees
Although Nicholas Soames recently urged the Foreign Secretary to show more kindness and understanding when dealing with one’s opponent, he appears to take a different attitude himself. Winston Churchill’s grandson was today reprimanded by the Speaker after it emerged that he had barked at a female SNP MP as she spoke in the chamber. The incident
There’s not much going on at the moment. Or at least that’s what brains over at ITV appear to think. Although the broadcaster revamped its News at Ten to much fanfare last year, the bulletin has now been pushed back to the 10.30pm slot to make way for the Nightly Show, a new series modelled on
After Theresa May’s seemingly successful visit to the White House, the Prime Minister has been accused of failing to stand up to President Trump over his visa ban. What’s more, No 10 has said there are no plans to cancel his state visit despite growing protests over the event. Now the Foreign Secretary is also under
Oh dear. After Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour leader, Lucy Powell was labelled a mean girl thanks to her decision to take to social media and declare that she had never, ever met the man. Now the Labour MP is in the naughty corner once again. Only this time it’s the Labour sisterhood she’s managed to offend. After the former
Just in case European Union leaders were in any doubt over President Trump’s feelings towards them, his rumoured pick for ambassador to the EU has been giving some pretty strong hints. Appearing on This Week, Malloch — who visited Trump Towers earlier this month to discuss the potential role — was open about his Euroscepticism. This led Andrew
Last week, Lily Allen became the subject of much mockery online after she claimed to have discovered the flaw in Theresa May’s plan for a global Britain. The pop singer said Brexit was unlikely to be a success as the ‘world still hates us’ because of… slavery. While Allen has refrained from offering any further Brexit analysis this
After Isabel Oakeshott co-authored Call Me Dave with Lord Ashcroft, the former Sunday Times political editor became the scourge of the Cameroons thanks to a story involving the former prime minister and a pig. However, despite this, she made a return to Fleet Street as the Daily Mail‘s political editor-at-large. A year on (and after months of speculation)
Oh dear. To describe today’s Prime Minister’s Questions as bad for Labour would be an understatement. After Jeremy Corbyn was put on the backfoot by Theresa May over the government’s Brexit white paper, he was left lost for words as he stumbled around for questions. To make matters worse, he also managed to mess up
Following Donald Trump’s surprise victory in America, Jeremy Corbyn’s team have tried to take inspiration from the new US president by pitching the Labour leader as a left-wing Trump. In a bid to jump on the populist wave, Corbyn and his supporters have gone to lengths to big up his anti-establishment credentials — even adopting a Trump-esque
Steerpike readers will be familiar with the antics of Ntokozo Qwabe — the Rhodes scholar, who boasted about making a waitress shed ‘white tears’ after he asked her to ‘return the land’. While the Oxford’s Rhodes Must Fall co-founder has since completed his law studies in Britain and returned to South Africa — where he
Ahead of the government’s supreme court appeal against the high court ruling that Article 50 cannot be triggered without a Westminster vote, the Daily Mail ran an article suggesting the judges who ruled against the government were ‘enemies of the people’. What’s more, the paper then ran a handy guide which ranked the 11 Justices of the
Thanks to the Home Office’s crackdown on hate crime, the Home Secretary recently found her conference speech officially recorded as a ‘hate incident’, after an Oxford University physics professor complained to the police that she was ‘picking on foreigners’. However, Mr S can’t help but wonder if Amber Rudd will soon be joined by her former
Over the weekend, John Prescott criticised Theresa May for arranging a trip to meet Trump as thousands of women marched in protest of the US president. Given that it has since been pointed out to Prescott that it’s not completely unreasonable for a Prime Minister to arrange a meeting with the new leader of the free world, Mr S suggests