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
As Tory MP Johnny Mercer found out last night, any politician who chooses to go on BBC’s Question Time is brave soul indeed. Following an evening of bullish debate, one member of the audience decided to take the veterans minister to task after Mercer complained about people voicing their anger on social media. Pulling him
Ding, ding, ding! That sound you can hear is two monumental egos colliding in a bit of vintage Labour politicking. In the red corner is Keir Starmer, the party leader and chameleon extraordinaire – a man with more positions than the Karma Sutra. And, er, also in the red corner is Sadiq Khan, London Mayor
Hold a major sporting, political or national event these days and chances are you’re going to be disrupted by a gaggle of greenies. Today’s unlucky victim was Sir Keir Starmer, giving the latest of his much-hyped ‘five missions’ speeches. As the London lawyer droned away, a pair of eco-zealots unfurled a flag behind him, protesting
The report into Chris Pincher is out and it makes for damning reading. An eight-week suspension is recommended for the Tamworth MP following allegations he groped two people at the Carlton Club last summer. This means that a by-election is now highly likely. A 10 per cent threshold of petitioners is necessary to trigger a
It’s 75 years today since the NHS was founded. So what better way for Westminster’s elite to mark the occasion than by knocking back a glass or four at The Spectator’s summer shindig? Last year’s event coincided with Boris Johnson’s resignation and the subsequent leadership contest. Tonight saw something of a reunion for the two
Mick Lynch, the tough-talking general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), is on the warpath again. This time, it’s the train companies who are once again the object of his ire, over plans to close 1,000 ticket offices. Lynch says this proposal amounts to a ‘savage attack on railway
All is not well among the SNP’s Westminster group and this time, it’s not Mhairi Black causing them trouble. Leader Stephen Flynn has today suspended Salmond ally Angus MacNeil from the party after a public bust up with the Chief Whip Brendan O’Hara. Tension has been brewing between MacNeil and O’Hara for a while but
With Rishi and Keir giving thanks for ‘our’ NHS, that meant it was time for the deputies to come out to play. So at PMQs it was Oliver Dowden tasked with facing Labour’s Angela Rayner on renting reform. But the real highlight of the session came from the SNP’s Mhairi Black, who announced yesterday that
Steerpike hates to brag, but you heard it here first. The Telegraph is now reporting that Joe Biden, having glock-blocked Britain’s Ben Wallace as Secretary General of Nato, is now pushing for the German Ursula von der Leyen. What makes Ursula qualified to lead the defence of the West? Well, she was German Defence Minister between
As America celebrated 4th July yesterday, it appears not everyone over the pond was keen to celebrate the country’s Independence Day. Picking up on the news that some Black Americans choose to mark Juneteenth (held on 19 June to celebrate the end of slavery) instead, panellists on Piers Morgan’s TalkTV show turned to debate. The
Scotland Yard has opened an investigation into allegations lockdown rules were breached at a party attended by Tory MP Bernard Jenkin in parliament. The announcement from the Met comes more than a fortnight after allegations emerged about the senior MP’s attendance at the gathering held in December 2020, to mark the birthday of his wife
Another one bites the dust. Mhairi Black today becomes the sixth SNP MP to announce she is standing down at the next election. It’s a rather big deal given Black is the Westminster group’s deputy leader. She famously pushed Labour’s Douglas Alexander out of his seat at only 20 years of age, with her entry
King Charles III is all set for his ‘Scottish coronation’ in Edinburgh tomorrow. Yet despite the royal fervour north of the border, Mr S hears that the nationalists are still not satisfied. Alex Salmond of the pro-independence Alba party and Green co-leaders, Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, have all snubbed the royal invitation. Quelle surprise.
These days, the reputation of the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection (PaDP) Unit is at a low ebb, following the scandals over its former members David Carrick and Wayne Couzens. A review of the wider force found it was institutionally racist, misogynist and homophobic, with the PaDP singled out for particular condemnation. In March of this year, Politico
Talk about getting your priorities right. As ministers battle to get inflation down from the double digit highs of earlier this year, it seems not all at the Bank of England are preoccupied with this struggle. For it has today been revealed that staff at Britain’s central bank – whose main job is to keep
Sue Gray did break the Civil Service code, according to a Cabinet Office investigation released by the government. The Partygate prober-in-chief has today been found to have breached the guidelines which she did so much to uphold during her six years as head of the government’s, er, Proprietary and Ethics team. Gray began negotiations with
It seems that Zac Goldsmith’s decade-long dance with government is over. The Old Etonian today handed his notice after four years as a minister, accusing Rishi Sunak of being ‘simply uninterested’ in environmental issues. It (for now) ends a 13-year career in Tory politics which saw him elected MP for Richmond thrice, lose said seat
The Court of Appeal’s rejection of the government’s Rwanda plan spells trouble for Rishi Sunak in his bid to ‘stop the boats’ – but at least one man is happy about the verdict. Step forward, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. The celebrity chef was on Question Time last night, telling viewers he is ‘delighted’ about the apparent end
France is in chaos after another night of violence sparked by the shooting of a teenager by a Paris policeman. Cars have been torched, roads barricaded and hundreds of people arrested. But while the country’s security forces have been struggling to keep order, France’s president Emmanuel Macron has been keeping himself busy: attending an Elton
Life appears pretty good for Nigel Farage right now. Winning awards for his TV show, enjoying the adoration of fans and scorning the opprobrium of Remainers everywhere. But it appears the reality isn’t so rosy for the former Ukip leader. Farage has taken to Twitter today to claim that ‘the establishment are trying to force
