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
This year’s Tory conference has seen a number of old faces as well as new – and the appearance of Boris Johnson’s former culture secretary at a More in Common event this evening has caused quite the stir. Nadine Dorries told delegates that her brief speech at a venue outside of the conference centre would
It’s the final night of Tory party conference and tempers are fraying. Three of the four leadership candidates have ended up weighing in on the 2019 sacking of the late Roger Scruton from his role as an unpaid adviser to the Department for Housing, after an interview he gave to the New Statesman (which was
The Tory leadership race is ramping up — and so is Kemi Badenoch’s anti-Reform rhetoric. The contender for the top job hasn’t held back on her views of Nigel Farage this week, and the back and forth looks set to continue… The Reform leader has been rather uncomplimentary about Badenoch of late — tweeting furiously
It’s the second day of the big Tory leadership interviews at party conference and Robert Jenrick is on the main stage. Making his case for why he should be elected leader of the Conservative party, the former minister slammed the state of the Home Office as being ‘in ashes’, promised he would ‘re-enact’ a version
It’s day three of the Conservative party conference, and so far the blue-on-blue has been kept to a minimum — not least thanks to the ‘yellow card’ threat, Mr S is sure. But one Tory grandee and former MP isn’t holding back on his thoughts on the future of his party following a disastrous election
As the Tory leadership hustings continue, there’s a bit of good news for outgoing boss Rishi Sunak. It now transpires that more people prefer Sunak’s government to Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour lot, according to polling by More in Common. In yet another blow for Starmer, the survey found the new government was less popular than
While the Conservative party conference is in full swing in Birmingham, back in Whitehall there have been some major developments. Cabinet Secretary Simon Case has now formally handed in his resignation letter, with the senior civil servant circulating his departure letter to his underlings today. His announcement that he will stand down at the end
The first of the big Tory leadership interviews kicked off today with Tom Tugendhat in the hotseat. The former security minister put forward his case to a packed out arena in Birmingham — calling for CCHQ reform, apologising for recent years of Tory ‘infighting and chaos’ and insisting he has what it takes to rebuild
To Birmingham, where the Conservative party conference is in full swing. As well as the formal leadership hustings taking place this week, the four rivals vying for the top job are busy behind the scenes trying to convince their colleagues – and membership – to back them. Robert Jenrick staged his latest rally bright and
All is not well in the Labour party. Not only is Sir Keir still dealing with the freebie fiasco, Starmer also lost a longtime MP last week after she quit the party. Rosie Duffield left Labour with a bang, penning a scathing letter that blasted the ‘sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice’ existing among the lefty
There’s an oddly upbeat mood here at Tory party conference in Birmingham. You might have thought that with just 121 MPs left, the Conservatives would be fairly despondent about their future. But it seems that the bromide of the leadership election has helped assuage such feelings. After all, who can be miserable when there are
Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party’s conference was mired in his freebie fiasco scandal after revelations about clothing donations and trips abroad surfaced. But while the Labour lot had a tricky time fending the story off at their conference, they appear determined not to let the Tory meet pass without a similar hitch. Now it transpires
While one Tory leadership contest rumbles on, another has come to a close. Russell Findlay was made the new leader of the Scottish Conservative party on Friday – and he’s enjoying his victory lap at Tory conference this weekend. At a fringe event today, the former crime journalist was keen to hammer home that his
Welcome to Tory conference 2024. For the next four days, the final quartet of contenders will battle it out, Hunger Games-style, to try and prove to their colleagues that they really stand a chance with the members. To do this, each of the four contenders is projecting an image of competence, confidence and momentum. So
Amid a wave of BBC cutbacks, the Corporation has made much of its new ‘Verify’ service. Bosses have trumpeted its fact-checkers – staff, supposedly, with ‘forensic investigative skills’ – as a solution to the slew of misinformation in the age of social media. So it was somewhat sub-optimal then that the BBC was forced to fact
Poor old Angela Rayner. It seems she is not too happy about reports that she is being ‘frozen out’ of decision-making in the new government, amid claims that she is the victim of a media ‘briefing war.’ Various reports have appeared suggesting that she has lost control of Labour’s employee rights’ package to the Business
It didn’t take long for the eco-zealots to strike again. Just minutes after Just Stop Oil activists Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland were jailed for throwing Heinz tomato soup over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, a trio of JSO protestors have again targeted the artist’s work at the National Gallery. How very tiresome… The climate protest group
When it rains for Sir Keir Starmer, it pours. Labour isn’t yet in the clear over the freebie fiasco that dampened the party’s conference this week and now another uncomfortable revelation has emerged. It transpires that Labour has chosen a new climate envoy with links to a hedge fund that donated millions to the party.
The first of two Conservative leadership contests has concluded and today it has been announced that the new leader of the Scottish party is Russell Findlay. The former crime journalist was widely seen as the party establishment favourite after former leader Douglas Ross announced he would be resigning from the post in June. Now Findlay
Well, well, well. When the monarchs of Montecito decided to cut ties with the UK and live stateside, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan seriously ruffled feathers in the royal family. But it now transpires that, before Harry’s big move, the Prince faced a rather curious intervention – from none other than the prime minister