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
With the Sunday papers filled with the details of David Cameron’s past tax returns, the subject of his family’s wealth remains high on the news agenda. Happily Guardian heavyweight Polly Toynbee was on hand to offer her take on the row during the Andrew Marr show paper review. Toynbee argued that the real story was not any
Oh dear. David Cameron’s bad day just got worse. After he admitted to previously owning shares in his father’s offshore fund, he has faced calls to resign. Now Lily Allen has promised to pay him a visit. The Smile singer says she will be heading to No.10 tomorrow to take part in a protest calling for Cameron
As David Cameron finds himself in hot water over his admission that he once owned shares in an offshore fund, today ought to be a walk in the park for Labour. In fact, all Jeremy Corbyn need do is give the press a few soundbites on the Tories’ troubles and then sit back and relax.
Last night’s Question Time saw David Dimbleby joined by Anna Soubry, Chris Bryant, Douglas Carswell, economist Ruth Lea and Irvine Welsh. As Soubry, Bryant and Carswell all bickered about the government’s use of £9m of taxpayers’ money for EU leaflets, Welsh — who lives in Chicago — said that even if he had a vote, he probably
Today David Cameron is trying to win the youth vote in the upcoming EU referendum. To do this, he has given a speech to students at Exeter University — claiming that young people will be be hit hardest in the event of Brexit. Taking questions from the audience after his speech, one student pointed out that it may
During the Labour leadership election, Jeremy Corbyn found himself in hot water after he appeared to claim in an interview with the Independent on Sunday that he wanted to reinstate clause IV of the Labour party constitution. The clause — which Tony Blair scrapped — commits the party to nationalising industry: ‘To secure for the
The news today that the government are to spend over £9m of taxpayers’ money on leaflets for the pro-EU campaign has gone down like a lead balloon in the Brexit camp. In an interview with ITV News, Boris Johnson has blasted the leaflets as ‘a complete waste of money’: ‘I think it’s a complete waste of money.
These days the BBC can’t seem to get anything right. On top of regularly riling Brexit-ers with ‘EU bias’, the corporation has been accused by some — including former BBC pol ed Nick Robinson — of showing anti-Corbyn bias. Now they can add a new one to their list; anti-Green Party bias. Yes, Green Party MEP Molly
Oh dear. With Sadiq Khan leading the polls ahead of the upcoming London mayoral election, Zac Goldsmith has his work cut out when it comes to convincing swing voters to vote blue. As part of this, the Old Etonian needs to show that he has a firm understanding of Londoners’ needs. Alas, his efforts hit
As the London mayoral race heats up, Sadiq Khan has gone on the offensive when it comes to the cost of public transport under the Tories. The Labour candidate — who promises a four-year fares freeze if elected — says that when it comes to value for money, things have got so bad that a luxury transatlantic
In March, Zac Goldsmith was named the most ‘pro-business‘ London mayoral candidate in a ComRes poll. According to the survey, 65 per cent of Londoners think Goldsmith is pro-business, compared with 39 per cent for Sadiq Khan. However, despite this vote of confidence in Goldsmith’s approach to business, a closer look at the Conservative mayoral candidate’s
During Ed Miliband’s time as Labour leader, he was subject to opposition from MPs in his own party as those in other parties. In fact, Miliband couldn’t even rely on his own family for unconditional support, with his brother David — who had lost out to Ed in the Labour leadership election — seldom praising his performance. Still, at least Ed
George Galloway’s London mayoral campaign carries a key message: ‘A London for all, not just for those dripping with gold.’ The Respect politician promises to make London a fairer, more equal society. But after Nick Cohen mentioned in The Spectator earlier this week that Galloway hadn’t been seen at a number of mayoral hustings, Mr S wondered where he
Zac Goldsmith’s mayoral campaign hit a bum note this month when his attempts to reach out to the Indian community backfired. The Conservative MP found himself accused of ‘racially profiling’ voters who have Indian sounding names with patronising leaflets. Happily he appears to have a different plan in place when it comes to winning over the
This week Sir Alan Duncan penned a piece for the Telegraph entitled ‘why this lifelong Eurosceptic is now voting to stay in’. In this, the Conservative MP explained the reasons he is backing Remain. To show how torn he had been over the decision, Duncan revealed that he had even met with Vote Leave ahead of opting
The upcoming EU referendum has proved to be a divisive issue for families as well as politicians. With Boris Johnson the lone Out-er among his siblings, another famous family are now to take different sides in the great debate. Although Jeremy Corbyn is known to have held Eurosceptic views in the past — recently deleting articles scathing
It’s been a bad week for the Tories, but it hasn’t exactly been a great week for Labour. After a list categorising Labour MPs as ‘supportive’ or ‘hostile’ towards Jeremy Corbyn was leaked, things seem to have taken a turn for the worse, because it appears that Corbynistas are now ranking MPs in terms of how
Today Amber Rudd is doing her bit for the In campaign with a speech in which she will warn the nation that UK energy costs could ‘rocket’ by £500 million a year if Britain were to vote to leave the European Union. The Energy and Climate Change Secretary will also claim that leaving the EU would mean that
As the leader of the Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn is a busy man these days. So busy in fact that he was unable to attend last week’s Scottish Labour conference. Happily, Corbyn did manage to find time, however, to attend last night’s British Kebab Awards. Politicians, kebab shop owners and meat-lovers alike gathered in the Westminster
With the PLP more divided than ever today thanks to the discovery of Team Corbyn’s ‘hostile list’ — which ranks MPs in terms of the their loyalty to the leader — tensions are high among Labour politicians. Now it appears that Team Hostile have decided to have some fun. ‘Hostile’ MP Jamie Reed claims to have ‘uncovered’
