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 Quentin Letts has made it clear that his new novel The Speaker’s Wife is fictional, the satirical tome has set tongues-wagging in Westminster. Chris Bryant wrote in his Guardian review that ‘the person who is most recognisable from today’s Westminster’ is the novel’s clerk of the house — Sir Roger Richards — ‘whose real-life counterpart Sir
Although it may have seemed as though the majority of MPs had enough on their plates over Christmas with floods, revenge reshuffles and the war on terror, it turns out that they also had time to edit a magazine. This week’s edition of the women’s weekly Stylist is ‘made by politicians’. The issue includes a recipe for cinnamon buns
Over the weekend a number of strange tweets were emitted from Jeremy Corbyn’s Twitter account. The Labour leader appeared to be taking his call to attack the Tories — and not other members of Labour — to new heights when he tweeted ‘Davey Cameron is a pie‘ along with ‘Here we… here we… here we
As junior doctors exercise their right to strike today over government plans to change their contracts, Jeremy Hunt has been keeping a surprisingly low profile. In fact the Health Secretary has declined interview requests, instead sending his senior clinical advisor Norman Williams to field questions from the media. Alas, there are some questions that are not
When Alan Rusbridger stepped down as Guardian editor-in-chief last year, he boasted of the ‘good shape’ he was leaving the paper in. Alas, for all his efforts it appears that some of Rusbridger’s pet projects are now falling by the wayside. Back in 2014, the paper announced to much fanfare that they were taking the paper in
Last year Benedict Cumberbatch came under fire for giving an impromptu expletive-filled rant on the government’s handling of the refugee crisis following a performance of Hamlet at the Barbican. While critics suggested that the theatre was not the right venue for the rant, at least Cumberbatch’s airing happened after the show had finished. Alas the same cannot be said
As the nation goes into mourning over the death of David Bowie today, one radio presenter appeared to be having trouble even taking the news in this morning. In fact when the newsreader Fiona Winchester’s read the news for Heart FM in Scotland during a morning bulletin, she seemed to have a world exclusive on her hands. https://soundcloud.com/spectator1828/newsreader-accidentally-announces-death-of-david-cameron-instead-of-david-bowie ‘David
Last year proved to be a testing year for the Miliband clan as Ed Miliband fought to be the next Prime Minister. While his wife Justine Thornton — an environmental barrister — found out firsthand how vicious the campaign can get when Sarah Vine compared her to ‘Mr Spock’ in a column for the Daily Mail, her
This morning the nation has gone into Twitter mourning after news broke that David Bowie had passed away following a battle with cancer. As hacks and fans rush out messages of sincere condolences, Jan Moir may well be regretting the timing of a feature she has had published in today’s Mail. In the article — entitled
Oh dear. It’s safe to say that last week was not a great week for Jeremy Corbyn after the Labour leader found members of his party on the verge of revolt following his so-called ‘revenge reshuffle’. His decision to sack members of his Shadow Cabinet led to resignations from Shadow Ministers as party members criticised his decision to move
The British National Party found itself back in the news today after years in the wilderness. However, it was bad news once again for the beleaguered party — the Electoral Commission had removed them from the register of political parties. While the decision was met with cheers by many, it hardly came as a surprise given the party’s difficulties in
In the past the Conservative party has been accused of not being in tune with the British public. Matters have not been helped by a number of ‘out of touch’ gaffes including David Cameron’s confession that he does not know the price of a loaf of bread because he prefers to use his £100 bread-maker. However, at
In recent months brains at the BBC have undertaken a number of steps to tackle ‘anti-Corbyn bias’ head on at the corporation. After the Beeb’s former political editor Nick Robinson wrote to colleagues warning them against anti-Corbyn bias in the political coverage, the message was then picked up by the comedy department. Barry Humphries revealed this week that he was told he could not do
It’s safe to say this week hasn’t been the best for Labour. As well as a never-ending reshuffle saga, Corbyn was accused of ‘low-level non-violent misogyny’ over the lack of women in the top roles in his Shadow Cabinet by Labour MP Jess Phillips. So with the cabinet officially reshuffled, brains at Labour HQ decided it
After Diane Abbott falsely claimed that Labour MP Jonathan Reynolds was a former special adviser on last night’s Newsnight, Reynolds hit back by describing her as a ‘sell-out’. Now — just when it seemed Labour’s in-fighting couldn’t get much worse — Ken Livingstone has appeared on the Daily Politics to offer his take on the incident. Asked if Abbott was
After a tough day yesterday for Corbyn’s team following his chaotic reshuffle, there was only one thing left to do to save the day: send Diane Abbott onto the airwaves. The gaffe-prone shadow international development secretary appeared on Newsnight to wax lyrical about the state of Corbyn’s slightly reshuffled Shadow Cabinet. When put to her that things might
Labour has found itself on the verge of a civil war today as a number of MPs have turned on their dear leader over his Shadow Cabinet reshuffle. After weeks of conflicting briefings in the media, it was Corbyn’s decision to axe Pat McFadden which proved to be a particular sore point amongst Labour MPs as two
Jeremy Corbyn made his views on changing the Labour party’s Trident policy pretty clear last night when he moved pro-Trident Maria Eagle out of the role of shadow defence secretary in favour of Emily Thornberry. Thornberry – who is anti-Trident – has been labelled as a controversial appointment by some given that – as well as
This week Jeremy Corbyn has found himself battling with the media once again as he had to reprimand lobby journalists for loitering too close to his office during his Shadow Cabinet reshuffle deliberations. Happily he no longer has to deal with such proximity issues when he returns home this evening. Mr S revealed back in December that
In December, Julie Burchill had lunch with Jess Phillips MP, and decided in an article for Spectator Life that the gobby Brummie had the balls to drag the Labour party back from Korbyn’s Keystone Kommunism. It now seems that Phillips agrees. Speaking on Newsnight last night, she admitted – over a pint – that she was indeed interested
