Champagne for the delegates’ brains
The Tory leadership tried to stop ministers, MPs and staff from drinking champagne at the conference. The Spectator party broke all the rules, obviously.
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
Wednesday
Tory take over
No corner of Manchester is safe from the Tories’ attempt to plaster their conference slogan anywhere and everywhere.
Tuesday
Lynton Crosby is literally a sweetie
The Mayor of London has been upstaged this year as the rebel darling of the delegates. Noting his new rival for attention – Nigel Farage – Boris charmed conference goers by regaining a tale about Mrs Farage: ‘I was so flattered and amused that I almost said yes – and then I thought, no, no!’ Uncharacteristic
Tory conference: for hardworking shoppers
Normally party conference exhibitions are made up of stalls from special interest groups on high-speed rail, trade unions, campaigns for responsible drinking or real ale, and some confusing stands advertising big companies with a large TV in the middle. But every year at the Conservative party conference, delegates enjoy a shopping spree, as well as
Monday
Go on Bridget, now that Mark Darcy’s dead — marry Daniel Cleaver! #taxbreak
Our world has been rocked by revelations that Bridget Jones — described as ‘the world’s most famous literary singleton‘ — is now a widow. Her ex-husband Mark Darcy has left her with two children and a life lived through social media. Bridget is now obsessed with a toyboy called Roxter, a 29-year-old she met on
Robbie Fowler’s simile was bad, not sexist
Viewers of Saturday’s edition of Final Score on BBC 1 would have seen former Liverpool and England striker Robbie Fowler apologising (doubtless after a prompt from the voice in his ear-piece) for using the expression ‘like a couple of girls’. He was referring to Jan Vertonghen and Fernando Torres’s silly tussle during the 1-1 draw between Tottenham Hotspur
Tory MP wins the Game of Thrones
There can only be one winner when you play the Game of Thrones. Any fan will tell you that. The victor, though, always comes as surprise: witness below Tory backwoodsman Alec Shelbrooke resplendent on the Iron Throne. The bombastic MP for Elmet, who is the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Northern
Sunday
Dave helps one hard working person
Oh the joys of being a lobbyist at Tory conference. Holding court in the bar of the Midland Hotel, my spies tell me that the doyen of the old school spinmeisters, Peter Bingle, was caught off guard by a visitor paying homage at his table. ‘Hello Peter, how’s business?’ asked the eager conference goer. ‘Very well thank
Tory pale ale fail
Are the Tories a little bitter about Ed’s conference speech last week? Well, if their annual conference stunt is anything to go by they’re up for a bar fight. The Red Ed Lion Pub has opened in Manchester serving up such comedy capers as ‘Miliband Brown Ale’, ‘Extra Strong Union Ale’ and ‘David’s Bitter’. Party fund-raisers
Friday
Bond, progressive Bond
Film fans look away now. Last night the latest author to add to the Bond legacy said that he did not think his version could work on the silver screen. Speaking at the Southbank Centre, William Boyd told fans that if he had wanted Solo to be made into a film he would have written
She lives on in our hearts and our wallets
‘L’Angleterre est une nation de boutiquiers,’ said Napoleon, and now our greatest grocer’s daughter will be remembered with the highest honour this land can bestow: a shop. The Tories will open “Maggie’s Shop” at their conference and online. Think t-shirts and posters rather than milk and coal.
Thursday
Anti-Murray mania in Essex
Andy Murray may have crashed out of the US Open; but last time I checked he was still a hero in this land after 12 months of triumph. All of which makes the recent travails of Conservative MP David Amess rather odd. A complaint to the PPC shows that his local paper, The Southend Echo, made an erroneous claim
Gordon Brown’s gossip girls
Brown’s boot boys had a reputation for political assassination, karaoke, and curry and lager. But if Damian McBride is to be believed, they’re really just a gaggle of gossiping girls. ‘How much of an appetite for gossip does Ed Miliband have then?’ Fraser Nelson asked of McBride for this week’s Spectator podcast. ‘He’s a bit
Wednesday
Exclusive: Damian McBride on Alastair Campbell: ‘he hasn’t lost any of his old hounding skills’
Damian McBride has written the Diary for this week’s edition of the Spectator. It’s a masterpiece in mischief. Mr Steerpike spluttered his coffee when he read Mad Dog’s thoughts on Bad Al Campbell’s reaction to the publication of Power Trip: Campbell hit the airwaves and bombarded McBride online, casting himself as some sort moral paragon
Damian McBride’s book Power Trip trips up its first victim
Damian McBride’s book has bruised many Labour conference delegates, and reopened old wounds. Now I can report that it’s claimed its first physical casualty. Telegraph journalist Matthew Holehouse had been tipped off that copies of the book were selling out fast at the Waterstones stall inside the conference zone. He ran across a road to get a copy,
Tuesday
Tessa Jowell: Ed should expose himself to many people
The Labour party recently reached a stage where the only person in the entire country not giving Ed Miliband advice about how to lead was Ed Miliband himself. That has died down now, especially after another crowd-pleasing conference speech. But this evening Tessa Jowell offered a little bit more in the way of help. She
We’re alright! we’re alright!
Mr Steerpike was tucking into half a dozen oysters in the Grand Hotel in Brighton when none other than Lord Kinnock tottered by. What did the old socialist firebrand make of his ideological son’s big speech? ‘I thought it was magnificent,’ the former leader turned EU millionaire peer gushed. ‘Practical patriotism, practical patriotism!’ Like father,
Coffee Shots: Iain Dale’s rumble by the seaside
Damian McBride certainly seems to have brought the edge back to Labour politics. LBC’s Iain Dale got into a fight with an anti-nuclear protester, who was interrupting an interview with McBride. Thanks to a wandering PA photographer, you can see Mr Dale dealing with him:
Monday
Ed Miliband is no ladies-man
Labour is the only party for women; that was the message of its conference launch last weekend. Every step towards equality had been made by the red team, it was claimed. Of course there was no mention of Maggie, the first (and only) female PM. Indeed, the party had to overlook the fact that it has never
Eddie Izzard the method actor
Eddie Izzard’s alleged mayoral ambitions have been well documented, although he’s coy of going on the record about any plans. But mayor of where, exactly? There’s been lots of noise about London; but Izzard has been surprising people at parties recently by speaking with a Scottish accent. Tongues have been wagging. Is the funny man who believes in