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
During Boris Johnson’s tenure, No 10. Downing Street seemed to anthropomorphise into being political actors itself. From partygate to wallpapergate, Britain’s most famous address frequently featured in the headlines amid a myriad of Brexit and Covid dramas. So perhaps it is no surprise then that Rishi Sunak has already begun putting his stamp on the
When Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister last October, Joe Biden phoned him to reaffirm the ‘special relationship’. But when the two leaders appeared at a press conference last night to launch the Aukus pact with Australia, Sunak probably wished Biden hadn’t been so chummy. Biden seems to have given the Red Wall, and Sunak’s political opponents, plenty to chew
How times change: seven months ago we were eagerly awaiting the Tiggerish Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s fiscal event, replete with much boosterish briefing about Truss’s tax-cutting zeal. Now we await to see what their respective successors will unveil in one of the least anticipated Budgets of modern times. ‘Under promise and over deliver’ is
‘Former Prime Ministers’ remarked William Gladstone ‘are like untethered rafts drifting around harbours – a menace to shipping.’ And as the good ship Sunak seeks to avoid the guns of Messers Johnson and Truss, at least the SS Theresa May is posing somewhat less risk to the government’s structural integrity. May has largely maintained a
Well, it was nice while it lasted. Following the farce of last night’s 14-minute episode of Match of the Day, BBC management have come out this morning waving the white flag to sue for peace with Gary Lineker. The ex-football star is going to return to the Beeb after after the corporation announced a review
The Oscars was always doomed to fail to live up to the drama of last year’s ceremony. In 2022, Will Smith stormed on to the stage to slap host Chris Rock after he took offence to the comic’s routine. But in Los Angeles last night, celebrities were on their best behaviour. Well, mostly. Step forward,
Day five and the Gary Lineker row shows no sign of abating any time soon. The BBC has gone into meltdown; the Prime Minister has been forced to distance himself. Lineker’s show Match of the Day was shortened to a mere 20 minutes without commentary, with his co-stars boycotting the programme in ‘solidarity.’ Faced with
Oh dear. This wasn’t how it was meant to go. After Gary Lineker was forced to ‘step back’ from presenting BBC’s Match of the Day over a tweet comparing the language used by the government with regards to its new Illegal Migration Bill to that ‘used by Germany in the 30s’, other presenters – from
Today was the penultimate party hustings of the SNP leadership contest, this time with Glasgow party members quizzing the leadership contenders. Did they want to know about what the next leader of the SNP thinks about the constitution perhaps, or the race to save Scotland’s NHS? Not quite. Instead, it appears what really matters to
It’s not a proper Tory bunfight until Nadine Dorries weighs in. The former Culture Secretary has never been shy to share her opinions and she has now weighed into the ongoing row about Gary Lineker and Match of the Day. ‘Lineker off air amid Twitter row’ roared the strap-line on Dorries’ flagship Friday show as
Oh dear. It seems that the BBC press office has had a nightmare 24 hours, with not one but three blunders in rapid succession involving three of their biggest stars – Fiona Bruce, David Attenborough and Gary Lineker. The Lineker row has been dominating the headlines but it’s not the only row consuming the Beeb.
Talk about an own goal. It seems that Gary Lineker’s increasingly aggressive anti-Tory tweets have got the multimillionaire into hot water with nervy BBC managers. Earlier this week, Lineker compared the language used by the government over its plan to tackle Channel crossings to ‘that used by Germany in the 30s’. Today it has been
Given the ongoing leadership race, it’s easy to forget that the current SNP government isn’t the only devolved administration which is seemingly hell-bent on embarrassing itself. Over at Cardiff Bay, Welsh Labour are still merrily fiddling while its public services burn – as two incidents within the space of 24 hours have neatly demonstrated. First,
It’s Rishi Sunak’s big moment today as he tries to cut a new deal with the French to stop the small boats crisis. The Prime Minister will meet with President Emmanuel Macron later today at the Elysee Palace alongside senior ministers in the first Anglo-French summit for five years. Such shindigs never happened under Sunak’s
No red card for Gary Lineker, it seems. The Sun reports this afternoon that the outspoken TV presenter is staying put after comments he made comparing the rhetoric around the government’s new illegal migration policy to 1930s Germany. It appears Lineker has avoided even so much as a slap on the wrist, with a BBC
There’s still nearly three weeks to go in the SNP leadership race and already the clown-car moments are clocking up. A new Ipsos Scotland poll is out today which shows that Humza Yousaf and Kate Forbes neck and neck, with the pair on 33 per cent and 32 per cent respectively, followed by Ash Regan
Another week and another Penny Mordaunt moment. The Leader of the House might not have won either of last year’s leadership contests but she’s positioning herself well for the next one with her forthright appearances in parliament. She used today’s Business Statement to take aim at the difference between ‘what Labour says and what Labour
Oops. Has Suella Braverman accidentally reignited war with the civil service? On Tuesday, after the Home Secretary announced the details of her new Illegal Migration Bill, a triumphant email from CCHQ landed in the inboxes of Tory party members. ‘We tried to stop the small boat crossings without changing our laws,’ it declared. ‘But an
Good old Alastair Campbell has been out and about today, showing just why he was once such a valued spin doctor. The onetime master of the dark arts has been vexed, nay outraged, over Tory MPs daring to question Gary Lineker’s decision to liken the government’s rhetoric on asylum seekers ‘to that used by Germany
So. Farewell then. William Waldegrave. After fifteen years, the great panjandrum is retiring next year as Provost of Eton College in a move that The Spectator first predicted in May. In a letter sent to Old Etonians, Waldegrave declared that ‘the school is in very good health, and very well led by [Head Master] Simon