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
The Beeb is developing a habit of being the news rather than making it – and the upcoming release of Sir Brian May’s badger documentary this Friday is no exception. The public service broadcaster has been slammed for allowing a BBC 2 programme to air after it emerged that the Queen guitarist will this week
Another day, another drama. The spotlight is back on Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour lot as accusations of cronyism continue to fly in. Now it transpires that yet another civil service appointee has rather strong political links to Starmer’s army. Ex-Labour Together campaigner Jess Sargeant has been appointed to a top civil service job, with Politico
As the UK Tory leadership contest rumbles on, north of the border the Scottish race is hotting up. Last week saw a rather dramatic few days in which four of six contenders called for the competition to be paused and the party’s deputy leader quit her post after ‘disturbing claims’ about outgoing leader Douglas Ross
To the Windy City, where the Democratic National Convention is in full swing. In the early hours of this morning, outgoing President Joe Biden bid an emotional farewell to conference delegates to pave the way for Kamala Harris’s 2024 campaign, and former US leader Barack Obama is due to speak today. But besides the big
Just when you think the equality and diversity police can’t get any madder, they do. Now it transpires that libraries across Wales have been told to become ‘anti-racist’ in the devolved Labour government’s bid to ‘eradicate’ systemic racism by 2030 – with librarians urged not to hold meetings in ‘racist’ buildings by decolonisation training experts.
Good heavens. As the 2024 US presidential campaigns pick up pace, some rather damning revelations have emerged about the impression contender Donald Trump left on Queen Elizabeth II. A new biography serialised in the Mail, A Voyage Around the Queen by Craig Brown, has set out the late monarch’s reflections on meeting the US businessman
To Northern Ireland, where Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been speaking to reporters about emergency prison measures, the violent riots that swept Britain’s streets and the response of the police. But during his interrogation by journalists, the PM didn’t seem to be in the mood to entertain recent rumours that his chief of staff,
Boris Johnson is back. The ex-prime minister is preparing to grace the nation with his musings as the launch date of his new memoir Unleashed looms. The former Tory leader’s latest work will be unveiled at the Cheltenham Literature Festival on 10 October, with his publishers promising the ex-PM will ‘explore the big decisions of
Sir Keir Starmer hasn’t exactly had the easiest start to his premiership – what with the recent riots, the country’s financial woes and today’s move to activate emergency measures in prisons. And now it appears that the PM’s popularity with the public has taken a hit too. New Ipsos polling reveals the Prime Minister’s net
When it rains for the SNP, it pours. It transpires that the Scottish government’s culture secretary, who met with Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UK, was sent to the rather controversial meeting by none other than First Minister John Swinney himself. Revelations of the encounter have infuriated pro-Palestine party members, with it being understood that
It seems that bad headlines run in Sue Gray’s family. After a week of newspaper reports suggesting that Keir Starmer’s chief of staff is to blame for the government’s ails, now it is the turn of her son to face the wrath of Fleet Street. Liam Conlon, who was elected last month as the MP
Prison is supposedly a place for wrongdoers to repent and reform – but it seems that even the staff inside are no angels themselves. After a female Wandsworth prison guard was suspended in July for a viral video of her, er, engaging with an inmate, Mr S did some digging into how widespread this phenomenon this
All is not well in the Scottish Tory party. Now four of the six candidates have released a statement calling for the leadership race to be paused until they receive assurances on the contest’s ‘transparency and fairness’. The letter, signed by Murdo Fraser, Jamie Greene, Liam Kerr and Brian Whittle, is addressed to the party’s
It’s a day that ends in ‘y’ so the nationalists are fighting amongst themselves again. This time it’s over a controversial meeting between the Scottish government’s Culture Secretary Angus Robertson and Daniela Grudsky, the deputy ambassador of Israel to the UK. As Mr S revealed this week, certain Nats were rather upset about the encounter,
As the Tory leadership race heats up, all six candidates are trying to draw dividing lines to stand out to their fellow MPs – and the membership. Now Tom Tugendhat has taken to Twitter to make clear his stance on the all-important issue of, um, TikTok. The China hawk has slammed the Beijing-based social media
Will the last lobby hack please turn out the lights? After Torcuil Crichton and Paul Waugh made the jump from journalism into politics by being elected last month, now another scribe has formally joined the Starmer army. After much Westminster speculation about the slowness of SpAd appointments, today Guido Fawkes revealed an interesting new hire.
Well, well, well. Now Ireland’s former Taoiseach has swooped in to defend the Olympian at the centre of a gender row. Leo Varadkar’s gushing Instagram post in support of gold medallist Imane Khelif hit users’ feeds last night, accompanied by some rather odd graphics. The ex-Irish PM reposted a screenshot from the ‘@fitnessgayz’ account, with
They say honesty is the best policy, but there are times when a little discretion is more advisable. It’s something Scottish Conservative MSP Stephen Kerr should note, after it emerged the politician had shared some rather candid thoughts about Murdo Fraser’s leadership campaign on WhatsApp. Not only are the messages damning – Kerr publicly endorsed
Back to the curious case of Ian Corfield. Revelations emerged this morning that the civil service watchdog was not informed of the banker’s donation history to Labour before it approved his selection to a top civil servant job in the Treasury. As Politico reported, the Civil Service Commission chief Kate Owen stated that government departments
Another day, another drama. This time it’s in Suffolk, where former prime minister Liz Truss appeared on Tuesday night at a promotional event to flog her new book ‘Ten Years to Save the West’. But while the ex-PM was deep in conversation about US politics and Donald Trump, she was oblivious to a banner descending