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 a long way from the pigsties in east Kent where I smoked my first cigar,’ said 92 year-old Baroness Trumpington as she collected her lifetime achievement award at the Spectator’s Cigar Smoker of the Year awards last night. At a packed Boisdale, the top prize was awarded to Arnold Schwarzenegger, with Frasier’s Kelsey Grammer
Of all the watering holes across the capital, Mr S knows full well that the Pig and Eye club is both the most elusive and exclusive. So Steerpike was curious to hear that the MI5 joint has apparently been forced to change its name in order to err on the right side of political correctness. Originally set
Labour’s efforts to demonise the hostile anti-Ed media is working. At the Labour leader’s eighth ‘relaunch’ speech on Thursday at Senate House, every single question from journalists was greeted by boos, hisses and tuts. The Labour leader actually dealt with the smattering of questions about his latest leadership woes rather well, yet the crowd were
One of the things that every political team needs is a Liz Sugg. Sugg works in Downing Street and makes sure that every trip the Prime Minister makes anywhere runs with military precision and doesn’t involve him walking through a door with the word EXIT on it when he’s delivering a make or break speech
Big news on the front page of the Mirror today as the paper goes heavy on the report from the Regnum news agency that Samantha Lewthwaite, the British female terror suspect dubbed the White Widow, was shot dead by a Russian sniper while fighting for the Ukrainians two weeks ago. A very big claim given that
In his campaign to make every single member of the Conservative benches want to throttle him, the Speaker launched a bizarre broadside against Winston Churchill’s grandson Sir Nicholas Soames on Monday. Hansard reports the moment as such: Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con): Is my hon. Friend aware of the serial bad behaviour by the
Much harrumphing reaches Mr Steerpike today from the City of London. At last night’s Lord’s Mayor Banquet — the annual knees up at Mansion House to welcome the new Lord Mayor — the Prime Minister caused absolute chaos with his demands to exit in time to vote in the Commons. The Loyal Toast and speeches
When Victoria Beckham was crowned Britain’s top entrepreneur by Management Today there were sniggers from an unkind few, while others balked at her estimated worth of £210 million. Mr S can’t dispute the figures that earned her the title, but it is probably time the former Spice Girl brushed up on her bookkeeping skills if
The Labour Party has asked the mad men over at Lucky Generals to work with them at the next general election, according to Campaign magazine. Seasoned watchers of this sort of thing will recall that Lucky Generals created Labour’s car-crash party political broadcast featuring a shrinking Nick Clegg (above). Despite a well rounded and widespread
On Friday, Mr S boarded the Thames cruiser the Silver Sturgeon to join TV presenter and former tennis pro Andrew Castle in welcoming heavy hitters Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray back to London for the ATP World Finals. But for Castle, it was a less experienced tennis player who was weighing on the
Is the latest Labour leadership crisis actually triggering new wave of party unity? Lord Prescott, who has slammed Miliband as ‘timid’ for his ‘complacent’ leadership style, spotted John McTernan, Tony Blair’s former political secretary turned columnist, in the reception of the BBC after they had both been on the airwaves to discuss the party’s dire
Mr S was in one of Westminster’s finest watering holes last night to toast Guy Fawkes. And who better to do it with than his old muckers from Guido Fawkes, who had whacked a hefty wodge of cash behind the bar in honour of their patron saint. The guest list was terribly exclusive: Jo Johnson, Buzzfeed’s Jim
Mr S would not like to be on the Times news desk this morning, as the paper realises they have been scooped by their own announcements page. Actor and global heart throb Benedict Cumberbatch has announced in the traditional manner that he is to marry his girlfriend Sophie Hunter, but it was only after the
An absolute gem in the Telegraph’s morning memo today by Stephen Bush, who claims that the Prime Minister has more than a passing interest in today’s government announcement that mobile phone companies shall be forced to cooperated in order to boost service for the consumer. Per the memo, ‘when the PM travels, his aides will
Having perused the replies for my call to caption Ed Miliband and Mary Creagh, Mr S is sorry to say that there is no ‘winner’, nor even a ‘favourite.’ There is merely a non-honourable mention for the response that caused your correspondent to chortle so lustily that I spilled my tea and soaked my smoking
Whatever could Owen Paterson be up to? The sacked Environment Secretary gave a punchy speech a few weeks back on climate change and is now set to intervene in the another important conversation. Tomorrow will see the launch of Opatz’s new vanity think tank called UK2020 that, according to the invitation, will be ‘dedicated to
Another day, another cock up from Nicky Morgan. The Department for Education’s official Twitter feed has hastily deleted a message stating:- Doh! As plenty of social media users were quick to point out, equal rights for all people – regardless of who they bed – should probably be covered by ‘British values’, not least in
Even the po-faced Associated Press (video above) couldn’t but describe as ‘toe-curling’ Ed Miliband’s encounter with a homeless hijabi. Pundits agree that Ed appeared ‘terrified’ of the beggar in Manchester. Mr S was there, however – on unrelated business, of course – and can confirm that the opposition leader really did only have 2p in his pocket
While watching Scottish Labour leader frontrunner Jim Murphy launch his campaign today, you might be forgiven for thinking the teetotaller has been hitting the bottle. The bottle of hair dye, that is. There is a noticeable change in tone from when Murphy was a minister in the last Labour government. Mr S doubts that will
The news that Westminster lunch ‘institution’ Shepherd’s is to reopen its doors after closing them eighteen months ago has been greeted with enthusiasm, not least by the cheese soufflé devotees of SW1. But should it actually stick in the throat? According to Public Affairs News the Tory lobbyist Lionel Zetter is the man behind the resurrection, and he
