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
Although Charlotte Church is seen to be a die-hard Corbynista — previously speaking at rallies to support the Labour leader — it appears that the prosecco-socialist is beginning to have second thoughts about Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour. Rather than vote for Corbyn’s beloved Labour in today’s Welsh Assembly elections, Church has tweeted to say that she is backing Leanne Wood’s Plaid
Oh dear. This week an awkward interview of Zac Goldsmith attending the Asian Awards has been doing the rounds on social media. In this, the Tory mayoral hopeful tells an interviewer at the event that he is a big Bollywood fan. Alas when pressed, he isn’t able to name a single Bollywood film or actor. While Goldsmith has since been
When the New Day was first launched in February, Trinity Mirror’s chief executive Simon Fox made clear that the company would close the title if it failed to deliver results. However, Mr S is pretty sure that he didn’t anticipate having to make such a decision quite so soon. Just over two months since its
As Labour’s anti-Semitism storm continues to dominate PMQs, it’s almost too easy to forget that the Tories are dealing with a big problem of their own. Today electoral watchdogs are meeting with police to ask for more time to decide whether to launch possible criminal investigations into Conservative campaign spending in the general election. Following
This Sunday marks the debut of Robert Peston’s new ITV politics show. Peston on Sunday is set out to rival the BBC’s politics shows — such as the Andrew Marr Show, Daily Politics and Newsnight — as the channel try to win back ground with its politics coverage. However, before Peston’s former BBC colleagues break a sweat over their
Tomorrow is D-day for the London mayoral hopefuls. After months of mud-slinging between Zac Goldsmith and Sadiq Khan’s teams over the Labour candidate’s links to extremists, Goldsmith’s campaign has been branded ‘racist’ by certain Labour politicians. However despite these allegations, the Tory candidate has also been the provider of some of the biggest laughs of the campaign. Although it is rarely
It’s less than 48 hours until the polls open for the local elections and following last week’s anti-Semitism media-storm, Corbyn needs all the friends he can get if he hopes to keep voters onside. Alas, some friends are more helpful than others. As Labour try and show that they do not condone anti-Semitism, Corbyn has
Today thousands of children are taking part in a ‘kids strike’ so as to avoid taking their Sats. The strike action comes following concerns from parents that Sats are putting too much pressure on young children and making them overly-stressed and anxious. With Nick Gibb claiming it is wrong for parents to let their young
There have been moments in the EU referendum campaign when it has almost seemed as though Stuart Rose is working for the Out campaign. Despite being the chair of Britain Stronger in Europe, the retail supremo managed to forget the name of his own campaign group four times in an interview. He also scored an own goal when
A few weeks ago, the Sunday Times had an amusing story by the estimable Tim Shipman about Nicholas Soames MP having lost weight – thanks (it was rumoured) to a new gastric band. All very jolly, but it seems to have sent Soames into a fury. He’s no fan of press freedom (he was one of
During President Xi’s visit to America last year, China’s leader attempted to win over his American audience with a joke about House of Cards. Referring to the American show which sees Frank Underwood use dirty tricks to get to the top, he said his crackdown on corruption was not aimed at purging political rivals — that
On Friday, Mr S reported that Oxford’s Rhodes Must Fall co-founder Ntokozo Qwabe had revelled in making a ‘white waitress’ cry at a restaurant in Cape Town. The incident occurred after Qwabe’s friend wrote a note to the waitress explaining they would only tip her when she ‘returned the land’. Qwabe — who studies law at Oxford
Yes, Labour is in the worst kind of turmoil – but don’t expect Zac Goldsmith to be able to turn it to his advantage. His overall problem is rather neatly exemplified by the above picture: will Londoners vote for a bloke who can’t even hold a pint glass, let alone drink its contents? Fair enough, Zac may
If there’s one thing Jeremy Corbyn does not like, it’s being hassled by journalists. The Labour leader was filmed yesterday refusing to answer questions about Ken Livingstone’s remarks before he managed to give the camera crew the slip. He’s also been filmed walking through Westminster keeping quiet whilst journalists try and persuade him to answer
Last year Ntokozo Qwabe made the news as the co-founder of the Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford movement. The Oxford law student accused the university of normalising the ‘existence of systemic racism’ and called on them to remove a ‘racist’ statue of Cecil Rhodes from Oriel College. However, the South African student was later accused of hypocrisy when it
Throughout his London mayoral bid, Sadiq Khan has been at pains to distance himself from Jeremy Corbyn. Although Khan was one of the 35 MPs to help get Corbyn onto the ballot paper, he has since gone on to declare that if elected mayor, he will not be ‘Corbyn’s representative in London’. His comments have
Last night lobby hacks gathered with their favourite SpAds in tow for the Westminster correspondents’ dinner. This year’s guest of honour was George Osborne, who proceeded to win over the crowd with a jibe-filled speech. Osborne — who has previously accused the BBC of harbouring ‘imperial ambitions’ — did manage to find time to include a serious
Although Ken Livingstone has done his best to steal Ed Balls’s thunder today, it’s important to take a moment and remember what April 28 is really all about. Today marks the 5th anniversary of Ed Balls day — the day the former shadow chancellor accidentally tweeted his own name. Five years on and a lot has
This morning Rupa Huq managed to anger listeners when she used a slot on the Today programme to compare Naz Shah’s anti-semitic social media posts to tweeting a photo of Boris Johnson on a zip-wire. With both the presenter and audience left bewildered by her disastrous defence of Shah’s posts, it appears that Huq has now had
Ken Livingstone has been the talk of the Commons today after he took to the airwaves to defend Naz Shah over her anti-Semitic posts. Since then he has been suspended after several Labour MPs urged their leader to take action. So, what’s Diane Abbott been doing to help the cause? While the MP for Hackney North stayed