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
‘Cuts’, ‘retrenchment’ and ‘savings’ are very much the buzz words over on King Charles Street. There’s lots of talk about ‘fierce and draconian’ reductions in foreign aid spending with James Cleverly warning that ‘money is tight.’ So Mr S was surprised to discover that the Foreign Office will spend at least £2.5 million on the
Quick, nurse, they’re at it again! Boris Johnson’s evidence to the Privileges Committee today has re-started the longest running war in Westminster, after a temporary cessation of hostilities. Johnson savages his former No. 10 advisor Dominic Cummings in his submission, referencing the Vote Leave guru and his infamous Substack no fewer than ten times during
It wasn’t so long ago that the Conservatives won a landslide on Boris Johnson’s pledge not to put up income tax, national insurance or VAT. But four years on, and after 13 years in office, it seems the Tories have lost their hard-won reputation for low taxes. Mr S has done some polling and last
It seems to be all going to pot for the SNP. The party’s chief executive and its top spinner are heading for the exit as the ongoing shambles of a leadership race continues to claim more scalps than a Scorsese flick. And it seems the pressure is getting to some of the SNP’s grandees, judging
In her eight and a half years at Bute House, Nicola Sturgeon has never been one to show much in the way of grace towards ministers down in London. There were the Brexit debates, where she endlessly sought to undermine those involved in negotiations with Brussels. There were the Covid crises, where she sought to
Well, well, well. It’s been a tumultuous time for the SNP recently, and no one knows that better than their own spin doctor Murray Foote. But it all seemed to prove too much this evening as he announced his shock resignation. Standing down after four years of spinning for the party, Mr Foote issued a
It’s a big week for Boris Johnson as he prepares to give evidence before the Privileges Committee next Wednesday. So it will have been to some relief tonight that he easily won re-adoption as the candidate for the Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat which he currently represents in parliament. The association have now released the
Cometh the hour, cometh the Humza. Once again the hapless health minister has struck again, this time on a visit to a group of Ukrainian women in Edinburgh. After a photo call, Yousaf turned to the group of women and asked loudly ‘Where are all the men?’ There was polite and awkward laughter before the
It’s Thursday so you know what that means: another chance to watch Penny Mordaunt demolishing the SNP from the despatch box. Today’s Business Questions to the Leader of the House saw Mordaunt face off across sometime soap star and full-time grievance-monger Deidre Brock. The Scottish nationalist gave a rather tedious speech lambasting Jeremy Hunt’s Budget,
Mick Lynch strikes again! The tough-talking general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) was out on the airwaves again this morning to defend yet another day of train strikes. True to form, Lynch couldn’t quite get through the broadcast round without getting into a spat with the journalist interviewing
It may seem like a bizarre question but it’s the one that is obsessing much of the left: is Rishi Sunak simply Enoch Powell in a better suit? Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s Westminster leader, made the comparison in parliament last week when he asked the Prime Minister ‘from whom are his Government taking inspiration, Nigel
Labour has greeted the Budget with its now-familiar trick of accepting 90 per cent of its changes and then railing against one high-profile measure to attack those beastly Tories. This time, it’s Jeremy Hunt’s abolition of the £1.07 million lifetime tax allowance on pensions from April to prevent doctors going into early retirement. The party’s attack
It says a lot for the SNP’s commitment to transparency that even its leading lights don’t trust its electoral processes. Ash Regan and Kate Forbes have today written to the party’s chief executive Peter Murrell asking for information about the party’s membership and the leadership ballot. Regan, in a letter which was sent with the
Gary Lineker is back in his job as presenter of Match of the Day. He’s also back on Twitter commenting on the activities of Tory MPs. The BBC host has hit out at Tory MP Jonathan Gullis, who accused Lineker of being a member of the ‘Twitterati’. Gullis also said of Lineker: ‘Those are the
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,