Steerpike

Steerpike

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

Michael Howard savages Suella Braverman

Blue-on-blue hits different when it comes from an older vintage. It seems at least one Tory grandee didn’t think much of Suella Braverman’s incendiary departure letter to Rishi Sunak yesterday. Michael Howard, who famously served in the Home Office from 1993 to 1997, today hits out at his successor, writing an article for today’s Daily

The SNP’s ludicrous by-election bill

Another day, another financial catastrophe for the SNP. This time it concerns the recent Rutherglen by-election, which saw the nationalists lose the Westminster seat to Labour in a humiliating defeat. But the by-election wasn’t the only embarrassing loss facing the Nats: their party bank balance took a hit too. It transpires that the SNP spent

Steerpike

Watch: Piers Morgan clashes with Corbyn

The Gaza conflict is a crisis that requires the upmost tact and diplomatic skill. So it was perhaps inevitable that Jeremy Corbyn would be reduced to angrily yelling at Piers Morgan about his past words about Hamas. Appearing on TalkTV last night, the man who led the Labour party three years ago failed 15 times

Steerpike

Watch: Corbyn refuses 15 times to call Hamas a ‘terror group’

Should Hamas stay in power following the 7 October atrocity on Israel? Should the group’s fighters be called terrorists? Two questions that are simple to answer but not, it seems, for Jeremy Corbyn. The former Labour leader refused 15 times to label Hamas a ‘terror group’ in a testy interview last night with Piers Morgan.

Will Sunak face more no confidence letters?

And so the backlash begins. On Monday evening Andrea Jenkyns MP submitted a letter of no confidence in her ‘Machiavellian’ Prime Minister. It comes at the end of Rishi Sunak’s reshuffle, which saw then-Home Secretary Suella Braverman sacked and, startlingly, former Prime Minister David Cameron return to government. Will the drama never end? Jenkyns’s letter

Steerpike

Scottish nationalists hail Cameron’s return

Out with the old and in with the even older. With Lord Cameron today making his return to government as Foreign Secretary, Mr S was intrigued to glean the reaction north of the border. It mustn’t be forgotten, after all, that Cameron is the only UK Prime Minister to have allowed the Nats their hallowed

Steerpike

Is Lord Cameron a ‘useful idiot’ for the CCP?

Let the great kow-tow begin – again. David Cameron, the new Foreign Secretary, is well-known for his attempt to create a ‘golden era’ in Anglo-China relations when prime minister. This essentially meant turning a blind eye to Chinese misdeeds and espionage on the condition that Beijing kept pumping money into the British economy.  But it’s his

Steerpike

Six questions David Cameron can now answer

David Cameron left 10 Downing Street with indecent haste. Britain had voted for Brexit and we were about to discover a scandal: he had instructed the civil service not to do any preparatory work in the event of a Yes vote. This led to a crushed timetable that destabilised his successors as he ran for

Steerpike

Full list: the MPs criticising Sunak’s decision to sack Suella

Rishi Sunak was never going to please everyone by sacking Suella Braverman. Just like clockwork, MPs are beginning to crawl out of the woodwork to proclaim Braverman true defender of the Tory faith and, while they’re at it, stick it to the Prime Minister. The list of MPs who have criticised Sunak’s decision to give

Nadine takes aim at Gove (again)

Remembrance Sunday traditionally brings with it a pause in political hostilities but not for Nadine Dorries. The former Culture Secretary was out on Laura Kuenssberg’s show this morning, three days on from the release of her long-awaited book on the supposed ‘plot’ to bring down Boris Johnson in which Michael Gove is cast as one

Steerpike

Farage to seek millions in damages from NatWest

It’s a busy old time if you’re Nigel Farage. The Brexiteer is expected to shortly become the latest politician to enter the jungle on ITV’s hit show I’m A Celebrity – Get Me Out of Here. But before that, Farage has certain scores to settle: including with the state-backed NatWest bank. He is now seeking millions

Gove mobbed by pro-Palestinian protesters 

Rarely has a protest had so much hype before it has even happened. But today’s pro-Palestinian march had something for everyone. Sadiq Khan has pointed the finger of blame at Suella Braverman over the attempts by right wing protesters to ambush pro-Palestine supporters. Meanwhile, the chants of ‘from the river to the sea’ have led

Tory WhatsApp wars resume

Ding, ding, ding! The latest round of fighting has just concluded in the weird and wonderful world of Tory WhatsApp groups. In a series of messages obtained by Sky News, various backbenchers turn on each another in the ongoing fall-out from Suella Braverman’s row with the Metropolitan Police. Some were supportive; others critical but one

Covid Inquiry costs soar to £56 million

It would be easy to get the impression that the Covid Inquiry – with its relentless focus on bad language and offensive WhatsApp messages – has so far been a waste of time. But that’s not quite true: it’s been a massive waste of money too. Today the Inquiry released its accounts for up to September 2023,

Steerpike

SNP minister runs up £11,000 iPad bill

The SNP’s finances are back at the top of the news agenda. Michael Matheson, Holyrood’s hopeless health secretary has somehow managed to rack up an £11,000 bill on his parliamentary iPad. It appears that when the government minister was holidaying in Morocco with his family, he forgot to switch on his WiFi. But instead of

Steerpike

Nadine Dorries’s bizarre Today interview

In these difficult times, at least we can all count on Nadine Dorries to give us a good laugh. The former Culture Secretary was up early on the Today programme to mark publication day of her book on the supposed ‘plot’ to bring down Boris Johnson. Her thesis, she told a bemused Nick Robinson, was that five

Steerpike

Watch: Douglas Murray takes on Piers Morgan from Israel-Gaza border

Douglas Murray popped up on Talk TV last night live from the Gaza border – and his head-to-head with Piers Morgan soon turned fiery. Morgan argued that Murray was wrong to suggest that all those taking to the streets of London to show their solidarity with Palestinians ‘are pro-Hamas’. ‘You don’t honestly think they’re all

Did hapless Humza mislead parliament?

The Holyrood WhatsApp drama can now be upgraded from ‘mystery’ to ‘scandal’. As if not handing over important messages wasn’t bad enough, the First Minister and his deputy have today been accused of misleading the Scottish parliament on the UK Covid Inquiry. It seems pantomime season starts early north of the border… Yousaf and deputy

Steerpike

Just Stop Oil involved in ambulance blockage

Just Stop Oil has been out of the news lately. But this week, its members are back and more annoying than ever, as they protest against the black stuff. Following an attack on a painting at the National Gallery on Monday, JSO activists have been holding up traffic in central London today by sitting in the