Steerpike

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

Greens to reject gender ruling in next leadership contest

To the Green party, whose membership will be called on to vote for their next leader this summer. Currently the party operates a curious policy whereby its next leaders or deputies, if job-sharing, must be of different genders – with Adrian Ramsay and Carla Denyer currently occupying the top job, having been elected in 2021.

Civil servants turn to AI ministers to test policy plans

Well, well, well. It transpires that civil servants working across Whitehall are turning to artificial intelligence to figure out how different policy proposals will be received by their real government ministers. Mandarins from the Department for Education, the Home Office and even the Cabinet Office have been clocked signing up to software that enables them

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Will Jacob Rees-Mogg return to frontline politics?

On Wednesday evening an esteemed group of Spectator subscribers gathered in London for the latest Coffee House Shots live event, where editor Michael Gove interviewed Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf and former Conservative MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg. The discussion focused on last week’s local elections, what they mean for both Labour and the Conservatives, and

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Carla Denyer quits as Green party co-leader

The eco-activists are back in the news this morning after Carla Denyer announced she will not stand again as co-leader of the Green party of England and Wales. The parliamentarian has claimed she will instead focus her energies on her MP role after leading the environmentalists for the last four years alongside co-leader Adrian Ramsay.

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Could Reform become the official opposition in Scotland?

To Scotland, where some rather curious polling has been published – suggesting that after next year’s Holyrood election, Reform UK could become the largest opposition party north of the border. The Survation survey for True North projects the current party of government, the SNP, will become Scotland’s largest party – taking a third of the

Senior Tory MPs and peers call for recognition of Palestine

Well, well, well. The conflict in the Middle East has caused splits among the Labour lot and now it seems serious divides are forming in the Conservative party over the issue. As reported by the Guardian, it transpires that more than a dozen senior Tory MPs and peers have broken ranks and written to Sir

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Watch: Haigh accuses No. 10 of briefing against women

All is not well in the Labour party. After a rather bruising set of local elections for Sir Keir Starmer, now the PM’s advisers are under scrutiny after ex-transport minister Louise Haigh accused No. 10 of briefing against women. Speaking to the Beeb’s Victoria Derbyshire on Newsnight, Haigh admitted she was ‘really fed up’ of

Watch: Reform MP gets sworn in

It’s been a whirlwind few days for Sarah Pochin who has become Reform’s newest MP after winning the Runcorn and Helsby by-election by just six votes. It was only on Friday morning that Pochin discovered she had clinched the victory in the Labour safe seat – and today, Runcorn’s new representative has been sworn in

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Watch: Sturgeon refuses to apologise to women over gender ruling

Well, well, well. Nicola Sturgeon has finally broken her silence over the Supreme Court judgment that backed the biological definition of a woman. Speaking to journalists in Holyrood today, Sturgeon insisted that while she accepts the ruling from the highest court in the land, she remains concerned about the impact on the lives of transgender

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Reform councillor attacks Farage as she quits party

Reform UK enjoyed success in last week’s local elections, but it hasn’t all been plain sailing for Nigel Farage’s party. It transpires that one of his new councillors Donna Edmunds has quit the party just days after winning her Shropshire seat – following her suspension from the group for posting on Twitter that she had

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Mike Amesbury urges Labour MPs to rebel

You’d have thought ex-Labour MP Mike Amesbury would have tired of making headlines by now, but the former politician can’t seem to keep his head below the parapet. Now the former Runcorn and Helsby parliamentarian – who prompted last week’s by-election after he punched a constituent – has called on Labour backbenchers to rebel against

Labour minister: rape gangs are a ‘dog whistle’ 

Uh oh. Commons Leader Lucy Powell has found herself in hot water after making some rather careless remarks on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions yesterday. The Labour politician sparked outrage over her reaction to a point by Tim Montgomerie – the founder of Conservative Home who has since aligned himself with Reform – who brought

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Darren Grimes wins Durham council seat for Reform

To Durham, the mining heartland of the UK and a traditional working class county. Yet despite its rich history with the reds, being the first of England’s county councils to be controlled by Labour – with the party retaining that control for over a century – Nigel Farage’s Reform party is making gains. Now it

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Watch: Starmer admits Runcorn loss ‘disappointing’

It’s been an eventful day – and there are still many more local election results to go. After a long night in Runcorn, and a full recount, Nigel Farage’s Reform party clinched the win in what had been a Labour safe seat by just six votes – securing a fifth parliamentarian and their first female

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Watch: Reform mayor Andrea Jenkyns storms out of Sky interview

Andrea Jenkyns may have won the Greater Lincolnshire mayoral election with over 100,000 votes, but it hasn’t all been plain sailing for the Reform candidate this morning. An interview with Sky News turned sour when Jenkyns was probed about previous comments she’d made about a rival’s South African accent after the other mayoral candidate claimed

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Farage: ‘Not true’ I have a woman problem

Well, well, well. It’s been a good start to the day so far for Nigel Farage’s Reform party, with the group in the lead on council seat wins, securing victory in the Greater Lincolnshire mayoralty and, to top it all off, coming first place in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election. Now the party has returned

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Farage to Kemi: ‘Please stay’

Happy six months anniversary to Kemi Badenoch. Elected leader at the start of November, she today has to watch her party shed councillors at a rate of knots. Coming off the back of the ‘Boris bounce’ in 2021, it was always going to be a hard night for her – but even this will be