What would you ask the prime minister?
Ed Miliband has suggested that there be a public version of Prime Minister’s Questions. This courageous idea makes Mr S want Miliband to be prime minister. What would you ask him?
Steerpike
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
Sunday
Friday
Image is the least of Ed’s worries
What were Labour thinking? Against the background of Ukraine and Gaza, the only domestic story likely to cut through is an economic one. The news today is dominated by David Cameron, George Osborne and Nick Clegg wallowing in the success of the British economy. So what did Ed Miliband do? He made a speech about
Wednesday
The law’s an ass, obviously
‘The award of Queen’s Counsel is for excellence in advocacy in the higher courts,’ says the QC appointments page. ‘It is made to advocates who have rights of audience in the higher courts of England and Wales and have demonstrated the competencies in the Competency Framework to a standard of excellence.’ Given that, earlier today,
It’s a bit rich for France to castigate Britain for sheltering oligarchs
There’s a big to-do between France and Britain at the moment, with France accusing Britain of protecting oligarchs’ money in London. President Francois Hollande’s Socialist Party said that before lecturing France on halting its £1 billion sale of aircraft carriers to Russia, ‘David Cameron should start by cleaning up his own back yard’ and stop
Lib Dems David Ward and Edward McMillan-Scott on bombing Israel and ‘disputatious Jews’
There’s quite a stooshie this morning, following David Ward’s latest contribution to peace in the Middle East. The Liberal Democrat MP for Bradford East tweeted yesterday evening: The big question is – if I lived in #Gaza would I fire a rocket? – probably yes — David Ward (@DavidWardMP) July 22, 2014 Ich bin
Tuesday
More big changes expected at the BBC
Mr S hears that the race to succeed Paxo came down to two candidates: the PM programme’s Eddie Mair and Today’s Evan Davis. Davis’s move frees up the morning slot — with the berth potentially pencilled in for Nick Robinson after next year’s general election. That, in turn, would trigger a race for one of
Priti Patel ‘totally up for it’
Priti Patel, poster girl for the next generation of the Tory right, will be a key face on the airwaves come election time. When the PM offered her a job last week, she confirmed No. 10’s hope that she is a modern voice. After Cameron told her: ‘I’d like you to go to the Treasury, Priti’, she
Monday
Nicky Morgan hides in office as civil servant sacks Gove’s special advisers
New Education Secretary Nicky Morgan wasted no time in stamping her mark on her department – sacking all three of Michael Gove’s special advisers on Friday morning. Friends tell Mr S that Henry Cook, Beth Armstrong and Jamie Martin were ‘keen to stay on in order to enable a smooth transition’, but it was not
Tony Blair — the unloved one
Tony Blair, international superstar, has jetted into London to deliver the inaugural Philip Gould Memorial Lecture at Progress, a think tank. The speech would have enraged the likes of Len McCluskey, in the unlikely event that he listened to it. Blair trotted out all the pleasing soundbites of the past. The ‘third way’ was, he
It’s Evan Davis for Newsnight
With the BBC set to make a formal announcement about Jeremy Paxman’s replacement at Newsnight imminently, tweets from BBC staff revealing the news were hurriedly deleted. Not quite all of them, though. Evan Davis to join #newsnight following the departure of Jeremy Paxman. — Lucy Walker (@lucybellewalker) July 21, 2014 It’s Evan Davis, apparently.
Can you help Owen Paterson?
Mr S was sipping his breakfast tea when he saw this plea from deposed Cabinet minister Owen Paterson: I’m looking for someone to run my new office, but I seem to have lost Dominic Cummings’s phone number. Can anyone help? — Owen Paterson MP (@Owen_PatersonMP) July 21, 2014 Cameroons need not apply.
Saturday
Sorry Dave, it’s Boris and Farage for Charlie Brooks
The other darling of the CLA Game Fair — alongside former Environment Secretary Owen Paterson — was Charlie Brooks (aka Mr Rebekah Wade), who appears to be back on the country scene in a big way. ‘I’m a big fan of Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage’, the former litigant tells me. ‘I’ve always been a convert to
Friday
No love for Liz Truss at country day out
Sacked Environment Secretary Owen Paterson was the darling of the CLA Game Fair at Blenheim Palace today. A steady trickle of well wishers queued, as if at a wake, to shake the right-winger’s hand. Even Nigel Farage publicly endorsed O-Patz, and was almost upstaged by the grey man. Country folk are sharpening their pitchforks in
Thursday
LBC coy on ‘Grill Gove’
Talk radio station LBC are coy about the prospect of a Michael Gove phone-in show, mooted by Mr S yesterday. When asked if such a show is on the cards, a spokesman said: ‘We enjoy Michael Gove appearing on LBC, as we do the many other politicians who also enjoy getting the opportunity to talk to LBC’s
Labour shadow minister attacks reshuffle women
There’s something wonderfully ironic about a Labour party that boasts about decency in politics yet has a frontbencher who tweets things like this: Bravo to Helen Goodman, Labour’s Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Minister, who would be furiously demanding an apology from the Conservatives for a similar tweet.
Wednesday
Mrs Gove goes on the warpath, as Michael plots his media career
Well, Michael Gove’s wife, Sarah Vine, has made her views clear: tweeting that the reshuffle was ‘a shabby day’s work which Cameron will live to regret’. Crikey. Talk about ‘stand by your man’: A shabby day’s work which Cameron will live to regret http://t.co/M9SN100PE1 via @MailOnline — Sarah Vine (@SarahVine) July 16, 2014 Should Vine be
Tuesday
Cabinet finally feels the squeeze
Some big egos are set to join David Cameron’s rubber-stamping Cabinet meetings, which will make life interesting. There is a physical problem, too. Mr S makes it 11 ministers awarded the right to attend (in addition to the 22 full Cabinet ministers) — and the reshuffle is not even complete yet. Sue Cameron reported during
Monday
Women in Parliament group serve ‘Eton Mess’ at Speaker’s House lunch
The Speaker’s House hosted the launch of ‘Women in Parliament’, a cross-party initiative to get more women into parliament, today. Fittingly, there was barely a man in sight — besides wee John Bercow, obviously. ‘Women in Parliament’ is led from by Mary MacLeod — former PPS to ex-Culture Secretary Maria Miller, who is also closely
Tulisa tongue twister
The BBC has departments devoted to pronouncing dialect and names; but they must have been in management meetings this morning, leaving news presenter Joanna Gosling to struggle with the name Tulisa Contostavlos: ‘We’ll just leave it at Tulisa,’ said the tongue-tied presenter. The Spectator sympathises with Ms Gosling: try pronouncing Taki’s name.
Wrath of Khan
Taking sides in the Middle East causes rows over many a Sunday lunch table; but one imagines that things are even tenser when you’re a member of one of the most prominent Jewish families in history and you’ve converted to Islam. This is the world in which Jemima Khan lives. Ben Goldsmith expressed a few