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

Polanski grovels for Met criticism

From our UK edition

Oh dear. Just when you thought the Greens could sink no lower on crime and justice, along came Zack Polanski yesterday with his take on the Golders Green stabbing. The ever-online left-wing leader thought it appropriate to share a post on X, criticising cops for kicking the knife-wielding Somalian attacker in the process of apprehending

Miliband’s red tape bonfire backfires

From our UK edition

Back in February, Steerpike’s old friend Ed Miliband vowed to liberate Britain’s nuclear industry from the stranglehold of bureaucracy. Red Ed promised to take a sledgehammer to the ‘archaic rules’ holding back the construction of power stations across the land. He even admitted that Britain’s record on nuclear is diabolical on a global scale, with

Kemi’s Conservative council confusion

From our UK edition

Many in SW1 have remarked that Kemi Badenoch has come on quite a bit since her early PMQs’ appearances. The Tory leader can now land a blow on television and can address the Commons with the confidence and clarity she lacked in earlier days. Significant progress, then. But alas, yesterday brought a reminder that live

Is Streeting ready to be PM? 

From our UK edition

With a week to go before voters take to the polls, the race for victory is heating up. But it is not merely the familiar scramble over potholes, bin collections and municipal leisure centres that is exercising Westminster. The other contest – the one to replace Sir Keir Starmer – is acquiring a momentum of

The long march of the Ukippers

From our UK edition

Wakey wakey! Whoooo remembers the United Kingdom Independence Party? Steerpike has fond memories of Ukip, Nigel Farage’s previous-but-one political vehicle which he then left to lead the Brexit Party back during the not-so-sunny days of Theresa May’s government. Along the way, a fair few Kippers have followed Farage on his journey and now ended up

Lineker’s curious silence on Golders Green attack

From our UK edition

As a darling of the progressive commentariat, Gary Lineker is not usually one to let injustice pass unremarked. The former BBC star has become a tireless outrider for the Palestinian cause, devoting generous acreage on social media and in interviews to Gaza. On that subject, dear Gary has told us that ‘when I see some

Watch: Labour MP told to resign by Jewish constituents

From our UK edition

It has been a pretty grim day in Golders Green. Two Jewish men have been stabbed, with the Metropolitan Police formally declaring it a terrorist incident. Both the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council have said they are ‘sickened’; Sir Ephraim Mervis, the Chief Raabi, warns that ‘today’s event proves that if you are

Which party leader is on the road the most?

From our UK edition

As local elections loom ever closer, Britain’s intrepid party leaders have taken to the road to pitch themselves far and wide. Set-piece visits are a chance to show the Westminster elite really are down with the people. So who, in the run-up to next week’s high-stakes poll, has gone all guns blazing in the battle

Katie Lam rules out joining Reform

From our UK edition

After Robert Jenrick’s (not entirely) shocking defection to Reform in January, Westminster’s eyes swiftly turned towards one of the Tory party’s new bright young things: Katie Lam. Would the 34-year-old MP for Weald of Kent pack her bags and follow her political chum across the teal Rubicon? Lam, widely regarded as a rising star on

British Ambassador torpedoes King’s state visit

Oh dear. Just when you thought a British ambassador to the US couldn’t possibly cause any more grief for Sir Keir Starmer, enter Christian Turner. Peter Mandelson set a high bar for humiliating Labour ministers, but the career diplomat – who took up post in February – has given the Dark Lord a run for his

Watch: Morgan McSweeney’s mea culpa

From our UK edition

It’s a blockbuster day in parliament today. To kick things off, we had Philip Barton up pleading ignorance; to close the proceedings tonight we have a vote on a possible Privileges Committee probe. But in between we have Morgan McSweeney, the longtime bête noire of the Labour left, giving testimony on the appointment of Peter

Ex-mandarin eviscerates PM’s claims on Mandy appointment

From our UK edition

Whooooo remembers Sir Philip Barton? The lifelong diplomat spent an inglorious four and a half years in charge of the Foreign Office, most memorably taking 11 days to return from holiday, just as Kabul was falling to the Taliban. But having been pensioned off at the end of 2025, now old Phil is back in

Hereditaries gear up for last hurrah

From our UK edition

So. Farewell then to the last hereditary peers. Today marks the last day in parliament for most of the small rump who avoided Tony Blair’s purge in 1999. Ahead of the new King’s Speech next month, the end of this legislative session marks the end of hereditaries in the House of Lords: one of the

Soft left to ‘soft launch’ programme

From our UK edition

It’s that time of year again. Spring is sprung and that means another bad set of local elections for an unpopular incumbent government. Cue much gnashing of teeth, plenty of wringing of hands and an endless stream of policy announcements from Labour caucuses fearing the future of their party. One particularly noticeable faction is the

Labour MP: PM going is ‘when not if’

From our UK edition

Up until now, the subject of the Prime Minister’s political survival has been an awkward question for any Labour MP. Privately, many concede that he is ‘done’; publicly their proclaim their faith in a man who is stretching their patience to breaking point. The number who have called on him to go can be counted

Watch: Pat McFadden flounders on Robbins

From our UK edition

Oh dear. For many years, there has been an iron rule of Labour broadcasting: when you’re in a jam, call Pat McFadden. Generations of underpaid, overworked press officers have come to respect the Paisley pugilist for performing media heroics on a scale equivalent to the Gloucestershire Regiment at the Battle of the Imjin River. Hordes

Watch: Robbins drops Doyle bombshell

From our UK edition

Oh dear. It seems that Keir Starmer’s strategy has, er, backfired once again. Having spent yesterday afternoon declaring to all and sundry that he was shocked, SHOCKED to discover that Peter Mandelson might have been a wrong ‘un, it was left to Olly Robbins this morning to deliver his response. With the calm demeanour of

Watch: Lee Anderson kicked out of the Commons for calling Starmer a liar

From our UK edition

Keir Starmer has not being having a good time of it in the Commons. Once again, the PM has been dragged in front of the House to explain why on earth he appointed Peter Mandelson as US ambassador – despite his well-publicised relationship with the billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. This time, the questions have been over

Three claims Starmer must explain on Mandelson

From our UK edition

Spin, spin, spin! That furious sound you can hear out of Westminster is Labour’s apparatchiks doing their damnedest to dig Keir Starmer out of yet another hole. The Prime Minister is accused of misleading parliament over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as Our Man in Washington. The Labour grandee failed his developed vetting clearance in