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 David Cameron recently made a promise to make broadband available to everyone in Britain, not everyone in his cabinet appears to be so on-message. Speaking at yesterday’s UK Israel Tech Hub event at Wayra Telefonica Accelerator’s HQ, Sajid Javid disclosed the preferred method of punishment that operates in his own household: ‘I’ll start by
Alan Yentob has dramatically quit his £183,300 per year creative director role at the BBC. Today’s decision comes after Yentob became the subject of intense scrutiny in recent months regarding the BBC’s coverage of the Kids Company scandal. In a statement, Yentob – who was the chairman of Kids Company – explains his decision to leave, citing the Kids
This morning the 66 Labour MPs who voted in favour of airstrikes on Syria — ignoring the pleas of their leader Jeremy Corbyn — have woken up to deselection threats from the hard-left as they stand accused of being warmongers. On top of this, there is another burden they must bear: they have driven Stan Collymore out of the Labour party.
After photos emerged of three-year-old Syrian Aylan Kurdi’s body being washed up on a Turkish beach, the British public hit out at the government for failing to do enough to help with the current refugee crisis. Although the government has so far spent £900 million helping refugees who have fled Syria, many were outraged that more
Staff at the BBC have been evacuated from the Broadcasting House Piazza after a suspicious vehicle was sighted nearby. Newsnight‘s James Clayton reports that the decision to evacuate the area was made after a suspicious vehicle parked up on Regent Street, which is near the corporation’s Broadcasting House headquarters in Portland Place. Workers in other neighbouring offices
Of all the places across the United Kingdom where David Cameron can expect a lukewarm welcome, north of the border must be one of the least likely. So Mr S was happy to hear that Cameron is at least now proving popular at one Scottish joint. Just as the Prime Minister may think Piggate is well
Covering the upcoming Syria vote is proving to be a challenge for hacks at the Guardian. Steerpike understands that the paper is having a difficult time deciding its editorial line on the issue which is currently undermining Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. Meanwhile, the little fact that Corbyn’s head of comms Seumas Milne — the Guardian columnist and
As details have emerged regarding the Mark Clarke bullying scandal that is currently engulfing the Tory party, allegations of blackmail, revenge porn and drug-taking have come to light. As a result, the Tory party is currently under pressure to explain why allegations of bullying were not looked into sooner by members of Tory HQ. With Grant Shapps resigning
Jeremy Corbyn is not having a good day. A large number of Labour MPs are uniting against him over his stance on Syria, while the news that the Labour party has lifted its suspension of his aide Andrew Fisher has been met with hostility by Caroline Flint and Siobhain McDonagh. With the knives out for the Labour
Newsnight producers are currently facing fresh woe over rumoured plans at the BBC to extend the News at Ten slot so it would overlap with the current affairs programme. Should the proposals go ahead, staffers will need to work especially hard to pull in high-profile guests in order to convince viewers to turn over. Alas Steerpike understands
MPs in the Commons are currently debating whether or not to vote in favour of airstrikes in Syria, after the Prime Minister delivered a statement on the issue this morning. As members of the opposition — including Dennis Skinner and Chris Leslie — raise questions over the potential airstrikes, where are the self-titled ‘real opposition‘? Well,
Today John McDonnell has continued to face flak after his attempt at a Chairman Mao joke in the Commons spectacularly backfired. On the Today Show, he was confronted by Diane Wei Liang, a Chinese author who was sent to a labour camp as a child, where she was forced to quote from Mao’s Little Red Book.
With Diane Abbott recently given the nickname Madame Mao by her colleagues over her behaviour since Jeremy Corbyn was elected as Labour leader, Mr S had thought that Corbyn’s team would be at pains to distance themselves from the Chinese Communist revolutionary. Yet think again, as not only did John McDonnell bring up Chairman Mao today during the today’s Spending
Last month relations between the Tories and John Bercow hit an all-time low as the Speaker called Sajid Javid ‘incompetent’ for taking too long to an answer a question. Well, David Cameron can at least take heart today that it’s not just the Conservatives who can find themselves on the wrong side of the Speaker. Today Corbynista Clive Lewis
Jess Phillips made the news earlier this year after the Labour MP told Diane Abbott to ‘f— off’ during a meeting of the PLP. The comment came after Phillips attempted to take Jeremy Corbyn to task over the lack of women in senior roles in his shadow cabinet, only for Abbott to jump to his
Today’s Trident debate in the Commons made for a lively affair, as the SNP made their case for the government to veto plans to renew the nuclear deterrent. Not that they were keen on any other parties having their say during the event, with Labour’s John Woodcock and Jamie Reed struggling to find an opportunity to have
With the news that Left Unity — the far-left political party — have suspended plans to stand in elections in order to support Jeremy Corbyn, many Corbynistas have taken the decision as proof of their leader’s positive influence. Alas, it all got a bit much for Alan Johnson, the former Home Secretary, when he appeared on
Yesterday Mr S reported that Robert Halfon was due to give a talk to young Tory activists on Wednesday — less than two weeks after he confessed to an affair with a… young Tory activist. The Minister without Portfolio went public over his brief affair with Alexandra Paterson, the chair of Conservative Future, after claiming that Mark Clarke — the
Faced with the prospect of Jeremy Corbyn one day becoming Prime Minister, Lord Sugar said that if elected, we should all move to China. Strong words from the Apprentice star — who quit the Labour Party after the election over its ‘negative’ stance on business, yet he doesn’t seem all that happy with Britain under Tory rule
Last week Robert Halfon made headlines after he confessed to an affair with a Tory activist, claiming that Mark Clarke — the Tatler Tory currently facing allegations of blackmail and bullying (which Clarke denies) — had planned to film him leaving a hotel with his mistress as part of a blackmail plot. While Halfon has since promised Tory