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
Oh dear. As the furore around Scotland’s Hate Crime Act extends into its sixth day, there are now fears about police spending as the force looks set to struggle with the sheer volume of complaints. It is understood that, since the Act was implemented on Monday, 40 officers a day have been required to work
A second Tory MP has admitted that he was a target of the Westminster sexting honeytrap. Luke Evans, who represents Bosworth, revealed this evening that he was sent a photo of a naked woman on WhatsApp. ‘Here’s a video I didn’t expect to make on a Friday evening,’ Evans said in a Facebook video. ‘A
It’s been a year since Peter Murrell, the husband of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, was arrested in connection with the police probe into SNP finances. Murrell was subsequently released pending further investigation, before the same fate met Sturgeon last summer. But while the SNP hasn’t caught a break since then, it seems Sturgeon has
One whole year has passed since the infamous forensic tent was set up outside former first minister Nicola Sturgeon’s Glasgow home. On the same day, her husband and former chief executive of the party, Peter Murrell, was arrested in connection with the police probe into the ‘missing’ £600,000 of donations the party received for its
Oh dear. There has tonight been a fresh development in the Westminster honeytrap sexting scandal. William Wragg, the vice chairman of the 1922 committee, has admitted to the Times that he was the source responsible for leaking MPs’ phone numbers to a man he met on the gay dating app Grindr. Wragg, the chairman of the Public
After the tragic news of the deaths of three British aid workers, killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza, both the public and politicians are demanding answers. And so at the end of his interview on the BBC’s Ukrainecast, Lord Cameron was asked about the situation in the Middle East. Before his interviewer had finished
The tragic news of the deaths of three British aid workers in Gaza, killed in an Israeli strike, has sobered the nation this week. It sparked a strongly-worded letter from Rishi Sunak to Israel’s Prime Minister on Tuesday evening, in which Sunak said he was ‘appalled’ by the killing of aid workers and the ‘intolerable’
The Tories are battling bad press almost every day now, what with rumours of rebellions and leadership challenges on top of a number of unflattering polls. The party might have hoped, then, that if former Conservative MPs wanted to raise party-specific concerns they would do so in private — rather than adding publicly to the
As if MPs didn’t have enough security threats to consider just now, a growing number of Westminster staff have raised concerns about being caught up in a phishing operation. 13 men have now come forward after receiving intimate and rather salacious messages from suspicious mobile numbers. Behind the messages, foreign affairs committee chair Alicia Kearns
As Scotland’s embattled First Minister continues to face backlash over his Hate Crime Act, his party has been hit with yet more bad news. New polling from YouGov suggests that Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party will become the largest party in Scotland, taking 28 seats and pushing the SNP into second place. The Nats are
It’s three days since Scotland’s Hate Crime Act took effect and there is no sign of public outrage dissipating anytime soon. Within the first 24 hours of Humza Yousaf’s hate bill becoming law, over 3,000 complaints were submitted — with the First Minister on the receiving end of more complaints than JK Rowling. Mr S
Is the SNP on a mission to make itself even more unpopular? Wellbeing economy minister Màiri McAllan is the latest politician to face a backlash after she confused voters with claims about Scotland’s progressive tax system on Twitter. McAllan first insisted that when making comparisons between Scotland and Ireland’s economic growth, the fact that Ireland
In a week that will prove testing for Humza Yousaf as public outrage over his hate crime bill continues, there is a tiny glimmer of hope for the beleaguered First Minister. A new poll has suggested that out of all the leaders of Scotland’s political parties, Yousaf is the public’s top choice for First Minister.
Scotland’s Hate Crime Act has got off to a rather rocky start, to put it mildly. On Monday, when the bill came into force, renowned author JK Rowling took to Twitter to reiterate her concerns about how expressing gender critical views (namely, that biological sex is a reality) could be an offence under the new
Easter recess may be in full swing, but government ministers aren’t getting a break. Education Secretary Gillian Keegan was sent out on the morning round today, to talk about the Tories’ free childcare expansion package. Eligible working parents of two-year-olds can now receive 15 hours of government-funded childcare a week during term time. From September,
Reform are breathing down the neck of the Tories, according to the latest polls. So it’s perhaps no surprise then that hostilities have stepped up between spokesmen for the two parties. The Mail on Sunday has today run a two-page story on various eccentric candidates standing for Reform at the forthcoming election. Among them include
Oh dear. Another week, another bad poll for the Tories. The Conservative party’s prospects have plummeted further, with polling suggesting Rishi Sunak’s party is on track to win fewer than 100 seats. Labour, meanwhile, could win 468 — resulting in a rather astounding 286-seat majority. But that’s not the worst news for Sunak: Labour is
It seems Angela Rayner is in hot water again. The Labour deputy leader might have thought she had escaped unscathed from claims about the sale of her ex-council house. But Greater Manchester Police (GMP) now says it is reassessing its previous decision not to investigate allegations that she gave false information on official documents, in a
The fall-out continues from Friday’s attack on Moscow concert hall attack in which 139 people were reported dead. Russian officials have directly accused Ukraine and the West of being involved – despite, er, the Islamic State claiming responsibility and releasing video of the atrocity. But in their bid to prove their side of events, the
It’s five weeks to go until the local elections and Tory high command are stepping up their attacks. On Monday, the Conservatives released the first of several videos focusing on Labour controlled administrations. A 70-second, black-and-white video attacked Sadiq Khan’s record and gravely intoned that ‘London under Labour has become a crime capital of the world.’ But