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
They say that April is the cruellest month but for Jolyon Maugham it seems to be December instead. Four years ago, the kimono-wearing, baseball-bat wielding KC infamously beat a fox to death, incurring much mockery and the opprobrium of the RSPCA for his boastful tweets about the slaying. And now the Babe Ruth of the
Merry Christmas, Rishi Sunak. With parliament rising for recess, some in No. 10 might have been hoping to put their feet up, now that the PM’s Liaison Committee grilling is out of the way. But tonight an unwelcome gift has been dropped at Sunak’s feet: his party will shortly be facing a by-election in the
It’s a Christmas tradition as old as the nativity itself: the annual lobby drinks party. Each year, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition host rival shindigs to entertain Westminster’s press pack with their best quips and warmest wine. First, it was Sir Keir Starmer’s turn to roast the lobby, having neatly skewered
‘When you’re in a hole, stop digging.’ It’s a famous mantra known to all; everyone that is, except for Michelle Mone. The lingerie tycoon has spent most of the past 24 hours railing against critics on her Twitter/X account, following her disastrous interview with Laura Kuenssberg in which she admitted she lied when denying involvement with
If there’s one thing the SNP are good at, it’s spin. But lately even the skill of self-promotion seems to have deserted Holyrood’s rulers, judging by their increasingly shaky grip on power. A perfect example of this was offered yesterday in the form of some shiny new graphics pumped out by the Scottish government’s official
Oh dear. Labour’s biggest loser has done it again. Poor old Eddie Izzard has a pretty poor track record when it comes to backing political campaigns. Among the comedian’s greatest hits include Yes2AV, backing Gordon Brown, Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn in successive general elections, endorsing the Euro and Remain in 2016 and bidding to
At last, official confirmation that Harry and Meghan are the world’s most unpopular couple – by their local newspaper, no less. This month, Hollywood Reporter has ranked Harry and Meghan among its biggest losers of the year. Still, at least the dynamic duo haven’t sunk completely into irrelevance just yet… Launching a scathing attack on
Poor Rishi Sunak just can’t catch a break. Every time he tries to establish a new narrative, one of his MPs triggers a by-election that gets us talking about the same old Tory woes. Today it’s the turn of Blackpool backbencher Scott Benton. He was the MP caught on camera by the Times in April,
Kemi Badenoch isn’t exactly known for beating around the bush, and her spat with a Labour MP at this evening’s Women and Equalities Select Committee was no exception. After Kate Osborne accused the Business Secretary of using ‘inflammatory language’, and likening ‘children and young people coming out as trans to the spread of a disease’, Badenoch
Dear oh dear. Gary Lineker’s acerbic antics are coming back to bite him. The BBC’s incoming chairman Samir Shah has suggested that the football star did indeed breach the corporation’s social media guidelines this week, after the bullish Beeb pundit took to mocking Tory MPs on Twitter/X. The future chairman of the BBC told MPs
It never rains but it pours. Every time poor Rishi Sunak seems to catch a break, bad news appears just around the corner. Less than 24 hours after the government won the Rwanda vote last night, the Prime Minister’s popularity has reached a record new low. Sunak is now as unpopular as his onetime-boss-turned-nemesis Boris
It was a good win last night for the Prime Minister and Home Secretary James Cleverly. The government managed to keep the number of Tory abstentions down in order to enable the Rwanda Bill to progress to its next stage. But on this morning’s media round, Cleverly has not been quite as fluent as last
David Cameron probably wasn’t expecting to be trolled by his own security minister when he posed for his latest photo. The Foreign Secretary was photographed with Sebastien Lai, whose father Jimmy Lai remains imprisoned in Hong Kong. ‘The UK opposes the National Security Law and will continue to stand by Jimmy Lai and the people of
Oh dear. For a while now, Danny Kruger has established himself as one of the more troublesome Tory MPs from No. 10’s perspective. The 2019 MP served as political secretary to Boris Johnson before entering parliament. Yet in recent months he has tended to adopt positions that cause Downing Street a headache. He helped found
It’s been a rather difficult week for Rishi Sunak, and it’s still only Tuesday. After being grilled by the Covid Inquiry yesterday, today Sunak is having to fend off a right-wing rebellion on his Rwanda plan. And now the government’s net zero minister Graham Stuart has been forced to fly back from Dubai’s COP28 for
Christmas party season is in full swing and last night it was the turn of the Onward think tank. Old survivors and bright young things gathered in the Georgian splendour of the Royal Society of Arts to hear from star speaker James Cleverly. Though the mood in government is grim, the Home Secretary betrayed little
Can Rishi Sunak persuade wavering Tory MPs not to vote down his Rwanda bill this afternoon? The European Research Group has already delivered its withering verdict: its so-called ‘star chamber’ of legal experts say the bill – which the government hopes will give the green light to send migrants to Africa – offers a ‘partial
Will Gary Lineker ever learn? The BBC Sports pundit is now facing criticism after signing an open letter calling for the government to end the Rwanda plan and create a ‘fair new plan for refugees’. It comes just nine months after he sparked a huge row over describing government rhetoric as being not dissimilar from,
It’s week nine of the UK Covid Inquiry – and time for the Prime Minister to face the music. Today, Rishi Sunak has his turn in the hot seat, as new polling shows that the public now belatedly disapprove of his lockdown measures. Quelle surprise. Meanwhile his ‘allies’ – including, er, Jacob Rees-Mogg, are cited in
It’s been a highly anticipated finale of I’m A Celebrity, not least because of the staying power of Brexit mastermind Nigel Farage — who tonight made third place in the series. For weeks, viewers have been glued to their screens, delighting in seeing the controversial GB news presenter squirm. From eating pig’s anus on pizza
