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
There’s a great scoop in The Times today. A political columnist, former chief leader writer of a national newspaper was, unbeknown to readers, acting as David Cameron’s chief stenographer for six years. In his columns he’d present himself as a former Tory official, retired and out of action. Full of self-deprecating anecdotes about what happened back
This week there has been a mix of excitement and dread in Labour circles over the announcement of the Momentum Kids initiative. The grassroots group are launching a children’s wing, which will allow protest-minded parents a time out to join the struggle while their children get their revolutionary juices flowing. While Momentum supporters have defended the venture
Any Britain politician of note will at some point in their career face the question: what is your favourite biscuit? While David Cameron opted for oatcakes, Gordon Brown had to take a recess to consider his options — before returning to say that anything with ‘a bit of chocolate’ would suffice. Today it was Jeremy
As Brexiteers begin to worry that Theresa May could be leaning towards a soft Brexit, a number of Remain-ers are keen to make sure that Brexit doesn’t occur at all. The latest issue of the New European — the pro-Remain newspaper — claims that these die-hard Europhiles now need a figurehead to lead the charge. So, who could
In recent months, Derek Hatton has been taking to the airwaves to wax lyrical about Jeremy Corbyn. Although the former deputy leader of Liverpool Council’s request to rejoin the party 29 years after they expelled him was turned down, he remains a supporter of the Corbyn regime. So, with this year’s party conference in his home
Although Alex Salmond is Scotland’s First Minister no more, luckily the public still have a chance to hear the SNP politician’s thoughts on a weekly basis thanks to his LBC phone-in. Today Salmond led the charge for Nicola Sturgeon blocking Brexit: ‘If Scotland could block Brexit, then I think Nicola Sturgeon should do that. I think
In the aftermath of ‘traingate‘, one of the most striking things about the incident was not that Jeremy Corbyn had a seat despite claims to the contrary, but that the Labour leader and his team kept providing conflicting versions of events. Although Corbyn eventually admitted he had just wanted to sit next to his wife, this was
Although David Cameron’s resignation honours were widely criticised for cronyism, it’s fair to say that Jeremy Corbyn’s one appointment to the House of Lords caused just as much upset. The Labour leader was accused of a conflict of interest for giving Shami Chakrabarti a peerage after she chaired his anti-Semitism inquiry. Apparently unfazed by the
Given the fragile egos of Theresa May’s three Brexiteers — Boris Johnson, Liam Fox and David Davis — Mr S suspects it’s for the best that none of them were present at today’s press gallery lunch with Nick Clegg. After accusing David Cameron of engaging ‘in a brutal act of one upmanship’ by quitting as the
When Hacked Off first launched in 2011, Hugh Grant was its lead spokesman — regularly appearing on shows such as Newsnight and Question Time to preach the importance of press regulation. While the Notting Hill actor donated the damages he received from News International over phone hacking to Hacked Off, the group were accused by the Register of being
Since the nation voted to leave the European Union in the referendum, Brexit has been described as a lot of things by a lot of people. However, until now Mr S had not heard it be described as sexy. At today’s European Union Select Committee, David Davis — the Brexit secretary — claimed that his brief is
Yesterday Emily Thornberry accused Sky News‘s Dermot Murnaghan of sexism for asking her to name the French foreign minister. While the shadow Foreign secretary has since been the subject of much ridicule over the claims, she can take heart that some comrades still have her back. Step forward George Galloway. Galloway has written a blog post on
Oh dear. It’s fair to say that Emily Thornberry’s appearance on Sky News this morning did not go to plan. The shadow Foreign Secretary — and shadow Brexit Secretary — appeared on Murnaghan to discuss Labour’s stance on Brexit. Discussing her brief, Thornberry — who is married to Sir Christopher Nugee — slammed the government’s
This year’s Labour conference in Liverpool will be accompanied by the rival ‘The World Transformed’ event which will see Momentum host four days of talks. With speakers including Richard Seymour — the journalist who once said if Falklands hero Simon Weston knew anything ‘he’d still have his face’ — it’s shaping up to be an interesting few days.
As Owen Smith’s supporters struggle to stay positive about his chances in the Labour leadership race, the MP can at least take heart that some still have faith. The latest Register of Interests shows that Smith has received a donation of £67,550 from Anthony Watson. This covers the rental, phone and internet costs of Smith’s campaign
After Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party presidential nominee, didn’t know what ‘Aleppo’ was in an interview, hacks at the New York Times thought the gaffe would provide great material for a story. Alas, said hacks failed to do their research before writing it. In correcting Johnson, the article claimed that the Syrian city is the
After seven years of Tory domination at the Westminster Dog of the Year competition, MPs from other parties had clearly had enough. Labour’s Anna Turley and Clem the Shih Tzu (named after Clement Attlee, of course) came down from Redcar in a bid to knock the Tories off top spot (though seemed more interested in
This week Ken Livingstone has managed to cause a stir after he appeared on the BBC to defend Keith Vaz — but ended up talking about Hitler. However, there was another reason Livingstone’s appearance on television piqued Mr S’s interest: why is he still in Britain? During the EU referendum campaign, Livingstone threatened to emigrate if
During the London mayoral campaign, the Evening Standard was accused of showing ‘overwhelming bias’ towards the Tory candidate Zac Goldsmith. The Media Reform Coalition claimed the paper had become the ‘mouthpiece of the Conservative party’ after it ran twice as many positive headlines about Goldsmith than his Labour rival Sadiq Khan. Khan was also the subject
Last summer, Chuka Umunna disappointed his Blairite mentors when he dropped out of the Labour leadership race. Explaining his decision, Umunna said that he was uncomfortable with the level of pressure and scrutiny on both himself and his loved ones. A lot has changed since then. With Jeremy Corbyn leading a fractious party — and
