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
All has not been well in the Scottish government for some time – and the latest revelation that former first minister Humza Yousaf was slamming civil servant press officers in WhatsApp chats is hardly likely to repair relations. It transpires that hapless Humza and one-time national clinical director Jason Leitch turned on their own officials
When it rains for Sir Keir Starmer, it pours. Polling by More in Common via Politico has revealed that Labour’s lead has been dramatically slashed to just one point ahead of the Tories, only three months after Labour’s landslide win. The survey, which polled 2,023 Brits, put support for Starmer’s army on 29 per cent
Sue Gray may have moved on, but Sir Keir Starmer’s freebie headache isn’t going anywhere. Now former prime minister Boris Johnson has lashed out at the Labour PM over his decision to accept gifts clothing, hospitality and glasses – adding that Starmer must be ‘worth a bob or two’ due to his prestigious legal career.
Another day, another Sue Gray-related drama. Even though the ex-civil servant has resigned from the role of Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff after becoming the story herself, she is still managing to generate headlines in her absentia. In an attempt to reboot his government, the Prime Minister swapped out Gray for Labour campaign guru
Who remembers Natalie Bennett, the Aussie-accented eco-warrior whose car crash interviews briefly enlivened the 2015 election campaign? The onetime Green leader has since been installed as one of our great unelected masters in the House of Lords. But it seems that all that the institutional knowledge there has not yet rubbed off on Bennett, who
It’s been a golden start in politics for Hamish Falconer. The son of former Lord Chancellor Charlie, the ex-Westminster boy triumphed at his first tilt for parliament in July before being appointed a fortnight later as the Minister for the Middle East. Highly regarded by many in the Foreign Office, it was to some excitement
Change is the flavour of the month and nobody knows that better than Sir Keir Starmer’s top team, which on Sunday saw the PM’s chief of staff Sue Gray swap out for Labour campaign guru Morgan McSweeney after weeks of negative briefings about the former civil servant. Gray is down but not quite out –
Another one bites the dust. Now Sue Gray has resigned from her top job as Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, taking on an ‘advisory’ position while Labour campaign guru Morgan McSweeney moves into her role. The move follows weeks of bad briefings about Gray – from claims the Starmer staffer had ‘subverted’ Cabinet over
Back to Scotland, where the police probe into the SNP’s funds and finances continues to rumble on. Now it transpires that prosecutors are looking into findings that suggests a non-existent company was paid for refurbishment work carried out at SNP HQ. More than £100,000 was coughed up for work on a ‘media suite’ in the
It’s just four days to go until the next round of voting for Tory leader. So, with the various candidates pulling out all the stops from now until Wednesday, Kemi Badenoch has today decided to unveil her latest star supporter. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has thrown his support behind the shadow housing secretary, just days
Back to the Tory leadership contest which is gathering pace post-conference season. In a matter of days, MPs will cast their votes to leave just two contenders in the race, before the membership gets its say. But there is consternation about the final two among the Holyrood group – which only appointed a new leader
When Sir Keir Starmer announced on Thursday that the UK will cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, he was met with widespread outrage. Opposition politicians were quick to blast the Prime Minister over the move, pointing to the strategic importance of the land, with ex-PM and one-time foreign secretary Boris Johnson slamming the
Boris Johnson’s new memoir Unleashed is to be published next week, and with the highly-anticipated account promising to be the ‘political memoir of the century’, Mr S was rather interested in what exactly it contains within its pages. Steerpike has put together a list of the top 15 things we learned from the former Prime
Who would want to work in Conservative Campaign Headquarters? The election this year was certainly not Tory high command’s finest hour, with rows over stitch-ups and misallocated resources neatly topping off the party’s worst election result in history. So with discontent high among both MPs and members, it is no surprise that Tory leadership contenders
It’s a day ending a ‘y’ – so there’s another Labour scandal brewing. After the ‘passes for glasses’ row about Lord Alli’s role in Downing Street, the party has been plunged into another row about claims of ‘cash for access.’ The Sun today reports that companies have been offered breakfast with the Business Secretary in
Mauritius is getting the Chagos Islands – and a lot of Tories ain’t happy. Tom Tugendhat calls it a ‘shameful retreat’; Robert Jenrick bemoans the ‘dangerous capitulation.’ The Telegraph calls it a ‘national scandal’ while the Mail splash screams it is ‘Starmer’s surrender.’ So with the Tory tribes raising a hue and cry, who better
There was national outrage this morning at the news that Sir Keir’s Labour has decided to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius – but perhaps Brits shouldn’t be so shocked by Starmer’s move. It transpires that the Prime Minister is friends with Philippe Sands KC, who also happens to be Mauritius’ chief legal
The end of Nicola Sturgeon’s premiership was mired in controversy over her plans for trans rights, her botched gender reform bill and the rather disturbing revelation that trans rapist Isla Bryson had been housed in a women’s prison. And now it has emerged that Police Scotland even considered logging Bryson as female on the sex
As Scots look ahead to the 2026 Holyrood election, support for the Scottish National Party continues to plummet. One scandal that the Nats won’t want looming over them when Scotland heads to the polls is Operation Branchform: the long-running police probe into the SNP’s funds and finances. Mr S can confirm that the investigation into
To the latest development in Labour’s freebie fiasco, as it transpires that Sir Keir Starmer has paid back over £6,000 of gifts he received from wealthy donors. No. 10 revealed the Prime Minister chose to cough up the funds for six Taylor Swift tickets, four Doncaster racing tickets and the clothing gifted to his wife.
