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
It’s arguably been a good week for Labour, as the Tory party becomes more and more implicated in the Greensill lobbying scandal, which saw the former PM David Cameron ringing around ministers last year to secure emergency cash for the flailing financial firm. Labour leader Keir Starmer certainly seemed to enjoy the ongoing revelations about
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Steerpike finally got his hands this week on a copy of Failures of State by the Sunday Times Insight duo Jonathan Calvert and George Arbuthnott about Britain’s experience of Covid. While not exactly a barrel of laughs, Mr S did enjoy one contribution from SAGE member Susan Michie, professor of health psychology at University College London and a Communist party
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Boris Johnson’s ‘fixer’ Eddie Lister is once again in the headlines, making the splash of today’s Daily Mail for being ‘on the case’ of the attempted Saudi takeover of Newcastle United. It comes two days after a piece in The Times reported that former Lister was considering combining his current role as the prime minister’s special envoy
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Steerpike was surprised to learn this morning that the UK is facing a ‘very serious third wave’ – not from the newspapers or an ashen faced epidemiologist but rather the unlikely form of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Amid calls in Canada to loosen lockdown restrictions, the embattled leader referenced Britain in his parliament yesterday as an example as
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Much ink was spilled during the Cameron years about CCHQ’s A-list efforts to get more top talent from a range of diverse backgrounds into the Tory parliamentary party. But now it belatedly transpires one man foresaw the future and was nursing his own crop of rising stars before it was fashionable – onetime MP turned novelist Jeffrey
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Pity the poor people of Leicester East. Having only got just rid of the scandal plagued Keith Vaz at the last election, long suffering constituents there have now found themselves lumped with his replacement Claudia Webbe. The latter was suspended as a Labour MP after just nine months following allegations of harassment, with her trial
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For some time now, Scots living in England have been placed in an unfortunate position by Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP. Since November last year, the Scottish government has barred people from moving between Scotland and England for non-essential reasons, effectively creating a cross-border travel ban. The move has been particularly painful for those with
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The last four months have not been a happy time for those in power in Brussels. The unedifying squabbles over vaccine procurement and the sluggish delays to its subsequent roll out have prompted criticism across the continent, with the World Health Organisation calling it ‘unacceptably slow.’ Unsurprisingly, a Bloomberg poll out yesterday found that almost two-thirds of adults believe
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This afternoon the House of Commons will sit for up to seven and a half hours of tributes to Prince Philip. After a minute’s silence and Speaker Lindsay Hoyle describing him as the ‘father of the nation’ Boris Johnson led the way for the party leaders. During his ten minute’s speech Johnson told the Commons
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The Scottish Parliament today met on a motion of condolence for the late Duke of Edinburgh. But while the main party leaders including First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the Tories’ Ruth Davidson paid eloquent tribute to Prince Philip’s seven decades of public service, the co-leader of the Scottish Greens felt no such compunction. Patrick Harvie
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David Cameron broke his silence last night on the Greensill affair after more than a month without comment. The statement of the Tory prime minister has failed to quell questions as to whether he acted improperly in his approaches to various ministers, with Number 10 today announcing an independent investigation – something Boris Johnson no
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It was just a fortnight ago that the BBC’s grumpiest new presenter Simon McCoy announced he was off to join GB News after 17 years at the Beeb. It has not taken long for the onetime viral iPad star to fire his first salvo at the Corporation’s editorial choices, taking aim on Friday to criticise Auntie
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Prince Philip’s death on Friday has led to an outpouring of tributes over the weekend, often prompted by personal recollections from those who encountered the former consort in person. His prominence in British public life for more than 70 years meant that an incredible 22 per cent of people in the UK are reported as having met the Duke
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Following the sad news on Friday of the Duke of Edinburgh’s death, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey tweeted out his condolences writing that ‘As a mark of respect to the Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen and the Royal Family, the Liberal Democrats are suspending the national election campaign today.’ A civil gesture of commemoration, one might think. But
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In February Mr S reported that onetime Labour power broker Jon Lansman was set to stand for Cornwall County Council in May’s local elections. Lansman, the founder of leftwing campaign group Momentum, left his party’s national executive committee in December, swearing that ‘My legacy isn’t complete’ with an afterlife in the politics of potholes appearing to be a
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Europe’s vaccine rollout has been a chastening experience for many in Brussels with the World Health Organisation describing it last week as ‘unacceptably slow’. So Mr S was intrigued to read an interview in Der Spiegel today with Thierry Breton, the EU’s Commissioner for Internal Market, in which the top official appeared to take credit
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After 74 years of marriage to the Queen, Prince Philip has today died at the age of 99. During his many decades in the public eye, the Duke of Edinburgh earned the respect and admiration of many for his selfless dedication to duty. Attending quite literally thousands of events besides his wife he developed a
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After a long life of public service, Prince Philip has died at the age of 99. Below is Steerpike’s rolling guide to the tributes paid by leading figures to the Duke of Edinburgh. Faith leaders Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury: ‘He consistently put the interests of others ahead of his own and, in so doing,
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Oh dear. Britain’s most read newspaper Metro caused something of an overnight storm with the first edition of its front page. Splashing on the easing of lockdown restrictions on Monday, its headline read ‘The Glorious Twelfth’ underneath a dramatic shot of projectiles being thrown at the peace wall in Belfast titled ‘Bad Old Days are Back’
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Oh dear, it all seemed to be going so well for the ‘Northern Independence Party’, a Corbynite breakaway outfit standing in the Hartlepool by-election. Despite appearing to think that Norwich is a northern city, and the pretty embarrassing use of a whippet on its logo, the party had managed to field a former Labour MP
