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
There was great excitement at the end of last year when it was reported that Reform UK was considering launching its own youth wing. For generations, pimple-faced politicos have offered a rich seam of stories for the press. Whether it is drunken Tory boys at Port and Policy night or NUS apparatchiks decrying Israel, the
The Labour government has a British Steel-sized problem that doesn’t look to be going away anytime soon. Sir Keir Starmer’s army took control of the production plant on Saturday after parliament was recalled in a rare move. Legislation was pushed through both houses to prevent the closure of the UK’s only virgin steel producer after
The cost of living crisis continues to afflict Brits across the country – but it would appear that Scottish government ministers aren’t having such a bad time of it. In fact SNP ministers will see their pay packets boosted by a whopping £20,000 after First Minister John Swinney’s government ended a voluntary pay freeze on
The 2024 general election may feel like a lifetime ago, but the Gambling Commission has certainly not forgotten about it. The watchdog has this morning charged 15 people over bets placed on the timing of the national poll – including former Tory MP and ex-parliamentary aide to Rishi Sunak, Craig Williams. Dear oh dear… The
Back to the curious case of Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, who has now had an arrest warrant issued against her in Bangladesh over alleged corruption charges. The warrant was issued by a judge in Dhaka on Sunday after the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) last week submitted a criminal charge sheet against the politician – who was
Just what is it with Labour and transport? Less than five months after Louise Haigh was forced to resign as Secretary of State for her missing phone debacle, now another tech-loving transport minister is in hot water again. This time it is Peter Hendy, ennobled last summer and instilled as a junior minister at the
Westminster has a new tradition on Friday mornings: analysing council by-election results. These days, such contests rarely make for good reading for Keir Starmer, with Labour now losing votes to every other parties across the country. Two council wards were of particular note this week. The first in Longdendale, Tameside in Greater Manchester saw Reform
And here it is. Former prime minister Rishi Sunak’s resignation honours have been published this afternoon with a number of former and current parliamentarians featuring in the impressive list. Ex-Chancellor Jeremy Hunt joins his former colleagues James Cleverly and Grant Shapps in being awarded a knighthood, while the list of former Cabinet ministers receiving peerages
You’d think if your political leadership had led to the fracturing of your party with key figures investigated as part of a finance probe, you’d keep your head down. Not Nicola Sturgeon. The SNP’s former Dear Leader seems to be rather enjoying her time in the spotlight – with the sitting MSP hosting a number
Does partaking in mass killing, raping and hostage-taking make one a terrorist? Hamas isn’t so sure. In a mind-boggling development, it transpires that the Palestinian Islamist group is employing lawyers to fight its designation as a proscribed terrorist group by the UK government. Instead, it argues, Hamas is a ‘Palestinian Islamic liberation and resistance movement
Dear oh dear. As the Birmingham bin strikes rumble on and rubbish continues to pile high on the city’s streets, some of the area’s residents can’t get out of there quick enough – including the, um, MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North, Liam Byrne. The senior Labour politician has found himself in the
The progressive class’s obsession with Adolescence continues – and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch is having none of it. When Badenoch appeared on BBC Breakfast this morning to discuss her party’s local election campaigns, presenters were quick to quiz the parliamentarian on her thoughts on the Netflix series, which has been lauded by Labour MPs –
To Sir Ed Davey’s Liberal Democrats. The fun-loving party made headlines during the general election campaign after its party leader was pictured on paddleboards, waterslides and even a bungee jump during the lead-up to the July poll. But while the party’s strategy appeared all fun and games from afar, the Lib Dems were working far
Hypocrisy is in the air this morning! As the tariff war between China and the US rages on, Sir Keir Starmer is hoping to avoid taking retaliatory action over Donald Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs – and instead negotiate a transatlantic trade deal with his American counterparts. But while Starmer’s army now insists coming to an
Elon Musk strikes again! The tech billionaire and co-leader of Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency has lashed out for a second time at the President’s top trade adviser Peter Navarro as tensions over tariffs ramp up in the White House. Now Musk has blasted Navarro as ‘dumber than a sack of bricks’ and ‘truly
To the Commons, where Prime Minister Keir Starmer is speaking to the Liaison Committee before the House rises for Easter recess. The PM has spent much of this afternoon fending off questions on growth, healthcare and British industry – but it was on his government’s recently proposed welfare cuts that the Labour leader went on
The monarch of Montecito is, er, back in the UK. Prince Harry has returned to Britain for a two-day hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in a last-ditch attempt to win automatic state-funded security for his family whenever they return to Britain. He may have stepped down as a working prince five years ago,
Just as the House of Commons is about to rise for Easter recess, Her Majesty’s Official Opposition has been hit with some rather unfortunate news. As revealed by the Guardian, the Tories have lost one of their biggest donors – in a move that could, insiders believe, lead to the closure of the party’s headquarters
Stock markets around the world continue to plummet but Donald Trump has his mind on other matters: his tariff war with China. The American president has this afternoon hit back at Beijing’s announcement on Friday that it would impose retaliatory tariffs of 34 per cent on US goods following Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ levies last week.
Uh oh. There’s trouble in Trumpland. Leader of the President’s Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk has taken to his social media site today to post a video by Milton Friedman lauding the virtues of free markets and multi-stage supply chains – showing the US economist praising the ‘magic’ of the ‘essential’ free market and